THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

Rare  Book  Room 

GIFT  OF 

John  W.  Beckman 


SUCCESS  II  LIFE: 

A  SERIES  OF  BOOKS, 
SIX  IN  NUMBER,  EACH  COMPLETE  IN  ITSELF. 


THE    SUCCESSFUL 


MERCHANT,       j      ARTIST, 
LAWYER,  \      PHYSICIAN, 

MECHANIC,       \      FARMER. 


TO    CONSIST   OF 


BIOGRAPHY,    ANECDOTES,    MAXIMS,    ETC. 


BY  MRS.   L.    C.   TUTHILL. 


NEW   YORK: 
GEORGE    P.    PUTNAM. 

LONDON:    PUTNAM'S    AMERICAN   AGENCY. 
M  D  C  C  C  L  . 


SUCCESS  IN  LIFE. 


THE    MERCHANT 


BY 


MRS.   L.   C.   TUTHILL 


'  We  fare  on  earth  as  other  men  have  fared : 
Were  they  successful  ?    Let  us  not  despair." 

'  In  the  lexicon  of  youth, which  Fate  reserves 

For  a  bright  manhood,  there  is  no  such  word 
As/fltf." 


NEW  YORK: 
GEORGE  P.  PUTNAM. 

LONDON      PUTNAM'S    AMERICAN   AGENCY. 

1850. 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

GEORGE    P .    PUTNAM, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


EDWARD  O.   JENKINS,   PRINTER  AND  STEREOTYPED, 

No.  114  Nassau  Htreet,  New-York. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Introductory, .......  7 

CHAPTER  IL 
The  Patriot  Merchant,  ......         16 

CHAPTER  IIL 

The  Financier,  .  .  .  •  .  •.  •  27 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Progress  of  American  Commerce,         .        -    .  .  -49 

CHAPTER  V. 
Elements  of  Success — Knowledge,   ....  55 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Integrity,         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  69 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Industry,  .......        80 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Economy,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  85 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Perseverance.       .......        94 

CHAPTER  X. 
Foresight  and  Prudence,        .....  98 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

PAGE 

Enterprise,  .......       104 

CHAPTER  XIL 
Decision,        .......  117 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Punctuality,          .......       122 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Courtesy,        .  .  .  .  .  .  125 

CH  AFTER  «V. 
Cheerfulness  and  Courage,          .  .  .  .  .129 

CHAPTER   XVI. 
Self-Government,       .  .  .  .  .  .  135 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Generosity,          .,         ..          ..      .    .;          .. .          »,^;       .      138 

I 
CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Good  Company,  .  .  .  .  .  .  148 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
A  Good  Wife,     ....  .  150 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Liberality  and  Benevolence, ...  .169 

CHAPTER   XXI. 
Success,  ....  .  177 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  SERIES. 


SUCCESS  !  How  the  heart  bounds  at  the  exulting 
word !  Success  ! — man's  aim  from  the  moment  he  places 
his  tiny  foot  upon  the  floor,  till  he  lays  his  weary  grey 
head  in  the  grave.  Success  ! — the  exciting  motive  to  all 
endeavor,  and  its  crowning  glory. 

During  the  cold,  dark  period  of  Superstition's  reign 
over  Christendom,  men  consulted  astrologers,  who  wrested 
from  the  "  stars  in  their  courses  "  omens  of  success  ;  in 
our  brighter  days, 

"  Man  is  his  own  star." 

He  needs  no  conjuror,  to  cast  his  horoscope.  Courage, 
industry,  perseverance,  enthusiasm,  honesty,  common- 
sense,  courtesy,  faith,  hope,  combined  with  genius,  tal 
ents,  and  correct  principles,  make  up  the  moral  horo 
scope.  "  Some  are  born  great" — geniuses  and  kings  ; 
"  some  achieve  greatness" — all  in  our  free  country  may 
do  it ;  and  "  some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them" — 
they,  for  example,  who,  by  a  sudden  revolution  of  the 
political  wheel,  find  themselves  unexpectedly  at  the  top 
most  elevation. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  young,  we  are  about  to  trace 
"  footprints"  left  by  the  truly  wise  and  good  "  on  the 


INTRODUCTION. 

sands  of  time" — footprints  that  mark  the  road  to 
success. 

The  farmer — to  use  a  good  old  comparison — the  farmer 
who  ploughs  the  deepest,  and  casts  the  best  seed  into  the 
furrow,  is  not  certain  of  a  harvest.  He  trusts  to  the 
genial  ministry  of  Heaven — the  sun,  and  the  rain,  and 
the  dew — the  good  providence  of  God.  Drought  and 
flood  and  cold  may  blight  his  hopes,  for  thus  it  seemeth 
good  to  the  all-wise  Disposer,  yet  success  is  considered 
so  sure,  as  the  result  of  these  means,  that  no  wise  hus 
bandman  neglects  to  employ  them. 

Success  in  life  is  equally  certain,  in  any  and  every 
career,  to  him  who  uses  the  right  means. 

"  The  child  is  father  to  the  man. 

The  boy,  in  the  perusal  of  a  book  suited  to  his  taste 
and  talents,  betrays  by  his  sparkling  eye  and  glowing 
cheek,  that  the  impulse  is  given  which  will  bear  him  on 
triumphantly  to  successful  achievement. 

Books  oftentimes  develop  TALENT  and  ENERGY  which 
have  lain  dormant,  or  they  give  direction  and  concentra 
tion  to  both,  by  fixing  the  choice  on  a  pursuit  for  life. 
That  this  series  of  books,  illustrative  of  success  in  vari 
ous  professions  and  occupations,  may,  in  this  and  many 
other  ways,  be  useful  to  my  young  countrymen,  is  the 
earnest  wish  of  their  friend, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CHAPTER  FIRST. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

"  The  sun  is  high  in  heaven  ;  a  favoring  breeze 
Fills  the  white  sail,  and  sweeps  the  rippling  seas, 
And  the  tall  vessel  walks  her  destined  way, 
And  rocks  and  glitters  in  the  curling  spray." — 'Praed. 

"  Thine  is  the  peace-branch,  thine  the  pure  command 
Which  joins  mankind,  like  brothers,  hand  in  hand." — Kinglake, 

"  THE  Blessing  of  the  Bay"  was  the  appropriate 
name  of  the  first  vessel  which  was  built  in  New  Eng 
land.  The  merchant  for  whom  it  was  built  was  the 
first  Governor  of  the  "  Bay-State,"  or  rather  of  the  then 
Colony  of  Massachusetts — Governor  Winthrop. 

The  giant  oaks  and  tall  pines  which  had  braved  the 
blasts  of  centuries  were  now  destined  to  dare  the  mighty 
deep.  The  vast,  primeval  forest  "  felt  the  wound,"  and 

"Sighing  through  all  her  woods,  gave  signs  of  woe 
That  all  was  lost." 

With  what  intense  interest  the  colonists,  young  and 
old,  watched  the  little  vessel  upon  the  stocks !  How 
they  shouted  as  she  gracefully  glided  into  the  water ! 


10  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

How  their  hearts  went  with  her,  as  she  spread  her  white 
sails  and  directed  her  course  toward  the  father-land  ! 

The  Blessing  of  the  Bay  probably  pursued  her  soli 
tary  path  across  the  ocean  without  exchanging  a  greet 
ing,  and  without  the  cheering  sight  of  a  single  distant 
sail.  Now,  amid  the  thousand  floating  "  Blessings,"  of 
all  forms  and  sizes,  that  flit  with  favoring  breeze,  or 
plough  the  mountain  waves  with  ponderous  wheel,  such 
a  solitary  passage  would  be  a  phenomenon. 

From  the  very  first  settlement  of  our  country,  Com 
merce  has  called  forth  the  talent  and  energy  of  the  peo 
ple.  They  brought  with  them  the  elements  of  greatness 
from  their  island-home.  Some  of  the  colonists  made 
useful  observations,  and  acquired  valuable  knowledge 
with  regard  to  commercial  affairs,  while  they  remained 
in  Holland.  Sir  William  Temple,  who  was  at  one  time 
the  British  ambassador  to  that  country,  in  the  seven 
teenth  century,  says  :  "  It  is  evident  to  those  who  have 
read  the  most  and  travelled  farthest,  that  no  country  can 
be  found,  either  in  this  present  age,  or  upon  record  of 
any  story,  where  so  vast  a  trade  has  been  managed  as  in 
the  narrow  compass  of  the  few  maritime  provinces  of  this 
commonwealth  ;  nay,  it  is  generally  esteemed  that  more 
shipping  belongs  to  them  than  there  does  to  all  the  rest 
of  Europe.  Yet  they  have  no  native  commodities  to 
wards  the  building  or  rigging  of  the  smallest  vessel. 
Nor  do  I  know  anything  properly  of  their  own  growth 


THE    MERCHANT.  11 

that  is  considerable,  either  for  their  own  necessary  use, 
or  for  traffick  with  their  neighbors,  besides  butter,  cheese 
and  earthen  ware." 

"  Holland  has  grown  rich  by  force  of  industry ;  by  im 
provement  and  manufacture  of  all  foreign  growths  ;  by 
being  the  general  magazine  of  Europe,  and  furnishing  all 
parts  with  whatever  the  market  wants  or  invites ;  and 
by  their  seamen  being,  as  they  have  properly  been  called, 
the  common  carriers  of  the  world." 

Another  quaint  and  entertaining  writer,  Owen  Fell- 
tham,  begins  his  "  Three  Weeks'  Observations  of  the 
Low  Countries"  as  follows  : 

"  They  are  a  general  sea-land,  the  great  bog  of  Eu 
rope.  There  is  not  such  another  marsh  in  the  world ; 
that's  flat.  They  are  a  universal  quagmire  epitomized — 
a  green  cheese  in  pickle.  There  is  in  them  an  equilib 
rium  of  mud  and  water.  A  strong  earthquake  would 
shake  them  to  a  chaos.  It  is  an  excellent  country  for  a 
despairing  lover,  for  every  corner  affords  him  a  willow  to 
make  a  garland  of;  but  if  justice  doom  him  to  be 
hanged  on  any  other  tree,  he  may,  in  spite  of  the  sen 
tence,  live  long  and  confident." 

"  Having  nothing  but  what  grass  affords  them,  they 
are  yet,  for  almost  all  provisions,  the  storehouse  for  all 
Christendom.  What  is  it  which  may  not  there  be  found 
in  plenty  ?  they  making  by  their  industry  all  the  fruits 
of  the  vast  earth  their  own." 


12  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

"  Their  merchants  are  at  this  day  the  greatest  of  the 
universe.  What  nation  is  it  where  they  have  not  in 
sinuated  1  nay,  which  they  have  not  almost  anatomized, 
and  even  discovered  the  very  intrinsic  veins  of  if? 
They  win  our  drowned  grounds,  which  we  cannot  re 
cover,  and  chase  back  Neptune  to  his  own  old  banks. 
Want  of  idleness  keeps  them  from  want ;  and  it  is  their 
diligence  makes  them  rich." 

The  "  pilgrim  fathers"  took  some  useful  lessons 
from  the  Dutch,  but  look  at  the  Mynheers  themselves 
at  New  Amsterdam  !  Look  at  that  Dutch  city  now, 
the  greatest  emporium  in  all  America — second  only 
in  rank  among  the  commercial  cities  of  the  world.* 
The  best  elements  of  Dutch  character  have  been  blended 
in  New  York  with  the  elements  of  another  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  the  British.  The  geographical  and  geological  fea 
tures  of  a  country  have  a  vast  influence  in  determining 
whether  it  shall  be  pastoral,  agricultural,  or  commercial. 

Has  not  our  country  been  peculiarly  moulded  and 
stamped  by  nature  for  commerce  ? 

Look  at  the  long  line  of  sea-coast,  with  its  safely  shel 
tered  sounds,  bays  and  harbors  ;  the  inland  lakes,  whose 
broad  expanse  rivals  the  seas  of  other  climes  ;  the  mighty 
rivers  and  smaller  streams,  which,  like  arteries  and  veins, 

*  "  New  York  ranks  as  the  first  port  in  America,  and  is,  in  fact,  the 
second  commercial  city  in  the  world,  the  aggregate  tonnage  of  the  ves 
sels  belonging  to  the  port  being  exceeded  only  by  that  of  London." — 
David  Stevenson,  JEsq.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 


THE    MERCHANT.  13 

are  interfused  through  the  land  ;  its  varied  and  fruitful 
soil,  its  mineral  wealth,  its  healthful  climate. 

The  mother  country  began  to  look  with  a  jealous  eye 
upon  the  aspiring  colonies,  who  were  for  taking  the  ad 
vantage  of  all  these  providential  gifts. 

Fifty  years  after  the  first  settlement  of  New  England, 
Sir  Joshua  Child  writes  as  follows  : 

"  Of  all  the  American  plantations,  his  majesty  has 
none  so  apt  for  the  building  of  shipping  as  New  England, 
nor  none  comparably  so  qualified  for  the  breeding  of  sea 
men,  not  only  by  reason  of  the  natural  industry  of  the 
people,  but  principally  by  reason  of  their  cod  and  mack 
erel  fisheries  ;  and  in  my  opinion  there  is  nothing  more 
prejudicial,  and  in  prospect  more  dangerous  to  any 
mother  kingdom,  than  the  increase  of  shipping  in  her 
colonies,  plantations  and  provinces." 

So  thought  "  the  mother  kingdom,"  and  to  keep  down 
her  aspiring  children,  loaded  them  with  burdens  too  heavy 
to  be  borne. 

But  this  did  not  crush  out  their  instinctive  go-ahead- 
ativeness.  Arbitrary  measures  scotched*  the  snake,  but 
did  not  kill  it.  Crush  American  enterprise  !  As  well 
might  one  attempt  to  play  with  our  sea-serpent,  "put  a 
hook  into  his  nose,  or  bore  his  jaw  through  with  a  thorn." 

What  said  the  celebrated  statesman,  Edmund  Burke, 

*  "  When  persons  were  taxed  unequally,  they  were  said  to  pay  Scot 
and  lot." — Webster. 


14  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  Yankee  enterprise  ?  "  Pray,  sir,"  said  he  to  the  speak 
er  of  the  House  of  Commons — "  Pray,  sir,  what  in  the 
world  is  equal  to  it  1  Pass  by  the  other  ports  and  look 
at  the  manner  in  which  the  people  of  New  England  have 
carried  on  the  whale  fishery.  Whilst  we  follow  them 
amongst  the  tumbling  mountains  of  ice,  and  behold  them 
penetrating  into  the  deepest,  frozen  recesses  of  Hudson's 
Bay  and  Davis's  Straits ;  whilst  we  are  looking  for 
them  beneath  the  arctic  circle,  we  hear  that  they  have 
pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of  polar  cold ;  that  they 
are  at  the  antipodes  and  engaged  under  the  frozen  ser 
pent  of  the  south.  Falkland  Island,  which  seemed  too 
remote  and  romantic  an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national 
ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting-place  in  the  progress 
of  their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is  the  equinoctial  heat 
more  discouraging  to  them  than  the  accumulated  winter 
of  both  the  poles.  We  know  that  while  some  of  them 
draw  the  line  and  strike  the  harpoon  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  others  run  the  longitude  and  pursue  the  gigantic 
game  on  the  coast  of  Brazil.  No  sea  but  what  is  vexed 
by  their  fisheries,  no  climate  but  what  is  witness  to  their 
toils.  Neither  the  perseverance  of  Holland,  nor  the  ac 
tivity  of  France,  nor  the  dextrous ,  firm  sagacity  of  Eng 
land,  ever  carried  this  perilous  mode  of  hardy  industry 
to  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by  this  recent 
people — a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  were,  in  the  growth, 
and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  manhood." 


THE    MERCHANT.  15 

This  recent  people,  however,  very  soon  hardened  into 
bone  and  sinew  enough  to  cast  off  the  burden  which  had 
been  imposed  upon  them. 

Merchants  were  among  the  foremost  "  to  snuff  the  ap 
proach  of  tyranny  in  the  tainted  breeze,"  and  to  peril 
fortune  and  life  to  gain  our  national  independence. 

These  patriot  merchants  should  live  in  our  grateful 
remembrance. 


CHAPTER  SECOND. 

THE    PATRIOT    MERCHANT. 

"  And  must  that  ardent  soul,  that  manly  form, 
Bow  to  a  toy,  and  cringe  before  a  crown, 
And  kneel  and  tremble  at  a  tyrant's  frown  ? 
Shrinks  that  proud  heart  before  a  purple  vest, 
While  courtiers  scoff,  and  tinselled  nobles  jest  ? 
Far  be  the  thought ;  the  weak,  the  ignoble  crew 
May  wound  thy  generous  soul,  but  not  subdue." 

O.   Waddington. 

THE  little  village  of  Quincy,  in  Massachusetts,  is  his 
toric  ground.  Within  its  precincts  are  buried  two  presi 
dents  of  the  United  States,  John  Adams  and  his  son 
John  Quincy  Adams.  Upon  the  paternal  estate  of  the 
Adams  family,  other  distinguished  men  have  had  their 
birthplace. 

Among  them  was  one  of  the  patriot  merchants  who 
came  forward  in  the  hour  of  our  country's  direst  need  to 
aid  her  with  heart  and  hand.  We  would  not  pluck  a 
single  leaf  from  the  laurels  of  those  revolutionary  heroes 
whose  noble  daring  calls  forth  from  year  to  year  the  elo 
quent  panegyric  of  the  orator,  the  eulogy  of  the  historian, 
and  the  song  of  the  poet ;  yet  without  the  aid  of  other 
men  and  means,  they  could  not  have  achieved  our  inde 
pendence. 


THE    MERCHANT. 


In  or  near  that  little  village  of  Quincy,  one  bright 
day  in  1737,  the  minister  of  the  place,  a  pious  and 
learned  divine,  rejoiced  at  the  birth  of  a  son. 

John  seems  to  have  been,  and  it  continues  to  be,  in 
that  part  of  the  country,  a  favorite  name,  and  it  is  a 
good  honest  name,  hallowed  by  many  reverential  and 
loving  associations.  The  minister's  son  was  called  John, 
and  in  time  proved  himself  worthy  of  the  name.  While 
the  boy  was  quite  young  his  father  died,  and  left  his 
family,  as  most  ministers  do,  poor  in  purse,  but  rich  in 
the  inheritance  of  a  father's  u  good  name." 

What  would  otherwise  have  become  of  the  fatherless 
Quincy  boy  we  know  not  —  providentially,  he  had  in  Bos 
ton  an  uncle,  who  was  a  rich  merchant.  This  uncle  had 
raised  himself  from  an  obscure  station  to  one  of  great  re 
spectability.  But  it  will  not  be  remembered  as  his  highest 
honor,  that  he  was  a  member  of  his  majesty's  provincial 
council,  or  that  he  was  elected  to  some  of  the  most  re 
sponsible  offices  in  the  town  of  Boston  ;  or  even  that  he 
founded  a  professorship  in  Harvard  University;  his 
name  will  be  better  known  to  succeeding  ages  through 
the  lustre  that  was  given  to  it  by  that  fatherless  nephew. 
To  the  university  which  the  uncle  had  generously  patron 
ized,  after  due  preparation,  John  was  sent  for  his  colle 
giate  education. 

It  seems  the  boy  manifested  no  strong  ambition  for 
literary  distinction,  yet  he  received  his  diploma  at  the 


18  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

university,  in  1754.  His  uncle  then  took  him  as  a  clerk 
into  his  counting-house. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  John  submitted  more  cheerfully 
to  the  drudgery  of  the  counting-room  than  do  many 
young  men  of  the  present  day,  who  occupy  high  places 
there ;  especially  those  who  have  but  recently  been 
emancipated  from  college  life,  the  duties  of  which  they 
performed  with  a  deal  of  useless  impatience.  The  fact 
is,  he  who  does  not  make  much  of  one  good  situation,  is 
not  likely  to  make  much  of  any  other. 

At  any  rate,  John  gave  satisfaction  to  his  wealthy 
uncle,  and  after  a  few  years  he  allowed  him  to  pay  a  visit 
to  England  ;  undoubtedly  furnishing  him  with  abundant 
means  for  enjoyment  and  improvement. 

The  young  American  merchant  found  that  there  was 
something  worth  seeing  out  of  Boston,  yet  if  he  had 
been  asked  in  London  which  of  the  two  he  liked  best,  he 
probably  would  have  proudly  replied,  "  The  town  of 
Boston,  to  be  sure  !" 

John  was  a  witness  of  the  imposing  magnificent  pa 
geant  of  a  royal  funeral,  that  of  George  II. ;  and  the  no 
less  splendid  coronation  of  his  successor,  George  III. 
And  John  was  getting  some  "  high  notions"  in  London, 
which  he  imported  to  Boston,  where  some  of  them  have 
been  known  ever  since  as  u  Boston  notions."  Soon  after 
his  return  home  his  uncle  died,  leaving  him  a  large 
fortune. 


THE    MERCHANT.  19 

"  Many  men  spend  their  lives  in  gazing  at  their  own 
shadows,  and  so  dwindle  away  into  shadows  thereof." 

John  might  have  felt  that  he  cast  a  tall  shadow  at  this 
time,  and,  Narcissus-like,  have  gloried  in  his  own  beauty ; 
for  he  was  not  only  rich,  accomplished,  and  eloquent,  but 
remarkably  handsome.  Mountains  of  gold  weigh  heavily 
upon  the  intellect  and  the  heart ;  the  man  who  can  resist 
the  temptation  to  lie  indolently,  even  at  the  foot  of  these 
mountains,  and  luxuriate  in  the  fruit  which  drops  into 
his  hand — that  man  is  made  of  strong  "  stuff.'3* 

Such  was  John.  He  was  not  to  be  crushed  by  wealth 
into  insignificance.  His  "  was  a  noble  nature,  which 
poured  forth  its  sympathies  with  every  grade  of  men." 

His  uncle  had  intended  to  have  given  five  hundred 
pounds  to  Harvard  University  to  repair  damages  done 
by  a  fire.  No  bequest  of  this  kind,  however,  was  found 
in  his  will,  but  John  gave  the  intended  sum  to  his  Alma 
Mater. 

Perilous  times  were  at  hand.  The  young  merchant 
was  chosen  to  fill  offices  of  trust  in  Boston,  and  soon 
after  to  stand  side '  by  side  with  Samuel  Adams  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  Massachusetts. 

The  inhabitants  of  Boston  were  becoming  impatient 
under  the  restrictions  which  were  laid  upon  their  com 
merce.  Hard  words,  and  harder  taxes,  came  upon  them 

*  Jean  Paul  said,  "  I  have  made  as  much  out  of  myself  as  could  be 
made  of  the  stuff,  and  no  man  should  require  more." 


20  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

from  the  other  side  of  the  water.  The  heavy  duties  im 
posed  upon  foreign  goods  were  to  aid  in  sustaining  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  distant  throne. 

Our  hero  was  fired  with  the  love  of  liberty,  and  he 
expressed  it  in  language  "bold,  convincing,  and  elo 
quent." 

The  wily  Lord  North,  then  prime  minister  of  England, 
determined  to  hush  the  rich  merchant  to  silence  by  a 
bribe,  which  his  lordship  thought  would  be  irresistible. 
John  had  been  chosen  speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly, 
and  rejected  by  the  royalists,  in  consequence  of  his 
well-known  opposition  to  the  oppressive  measures  of  the 
British  government.  By  express  command  from  Lord 
North,  the  nomination  of  the  young  Bostonian  to  an 
office  under  that  government  was  approved  by  the  royal 
governor. 

John  had  the  prospect  of  high  honors  before  him,  under 
royal  patronage ;  perhaps  even  an  earl's  coronet  in  the 
distance  might  have  dazzled  his  imagination  for  a  mo 
ment,  but  he  nobly  resisted  the  bauble,  and  sacrificing 
for  the  rights  of  his  fellow-citizens  the  tempting  bait, 
indignantly  refused  a  seat  in  the  council-chamber. 
Soon  after  this,  the  royal  governor,  to  prevent  disturb 
ances  in  Boston,  quartered  among  the  townspeople 
several  regiments  of  British  soldiers. 

The  seeds  of  rebellion  were  already  swelling — almost 
bursting — when  they  were  thus  thrown  into  a  hot-bed. 


THE   MERCHANT.  21 

On  the  evening  of  the  5th  March,  1770,  a  small  party 
of  the  British  troops  parading  in  King  Street,  were  assail 
ed  with  snowballs  and  other  missiles  by  a  tumultuous 
assemblage  of  the  people,  which,  in  our  days,  would  be 
called  a  mob.  The  officer  in  command  ordered  the  sol 
diers  to  fire  upon  them.  The  order  was  obeyed ;  several 
of  the  people  were  wounded,  and  a  few  were  killed. 
This  was  the  famous  Boston  Massacre.  The  excite 
ment  which  followed  was  intense.  The  citizens,  men, 
women  and  children,  hastened  to  the  spot  after  the  sol 
diers  had  withdrawn,  and  their  loud  cries  were  mingled 
with  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  tolling  of  bells.  This 
was  the  first  blood  spilt  during  the  Revolution. 

Two  or  three  days  after  the  "  Massacre,"  the  bod 
ies  of  the  slain  were  borne  by  the  people  of  Boston 
and  the  neighboring  towns,  in  solemn  procession,  to 
the  place  of  interment,  and  buried  together  in  the  same 
grave. 

Under  the  fierce  excitement  of  the  occasion,  our  hero 
delivered  a  vehement  oration,  as  well  calculated  as  that 
of  Mark  Antony  to  excite  the  people  to  revenge. 

"  I  have,"  said  John,  "  from  my  earliest  recollections  of 
youth,  rejoiced  in  the  felicity  of  my  fellow-men ;  and 
have  considered  it  as  the  indispensable  duty  of  every 
member  of  society  to  promote,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  the 
prosperity  of  every  individual  of  his  species,  but  more 
especially  the  community  to  which  he  belongs." 


22  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

"  Some  boast  of  being  friends  to  government ;  I  am  a 
friend  to  righteous  government,  to  a  government  founded 
upon  the  principles  of  reason  and  justice ;  but  I  glory  in 
avowing  my  eternal  enmity  to  tyranny ;  and  here  suf 
fer  me  to  ask  what  tenderness,  what  regard  have  the 
rulers  of  Great  Britain  manifested  in  their  late  trans 
actions  1" 

Here  the  orator  entered  into  the  grievances  under 
which  the  Bostonians  had  suffered,  and  concluded  with 
the  following  vehement  peroration. 

"  But  I  gladly  quit  the  theme  of  death.  I  would  not 
dwell  too  long  upon  the  horrid  effects  which  have  already 
followed  from  quartering  regular  troops  in  this  town; 
let  our  misfortunes  instruct  posterity  to  guard  against 
these  evils.  Standing  armies  are  sometimes,  (I  would 
by  no  means  say  generally,  much  less  universally,)  com 
posed  of  persons  who  have  rendered  themselves  unfit  to 
live  in  civil  society ;  who  are  equally  indifferent  to  the 
glory  of  a  George  or  a  Louis ;  who,  for  the  addition  of 
one  penny  a  day  to  their  wages,  would  desert  from  the 
Christian  cross,  and  fight  under  the  crescent  of  the  Turk 
ish  sultan ;  from  such  men  as  these,  what  has  not  a 
state  to  fear  ?  With  such  men  as  these,  usurping  Caesar 
passed  the  Rubicon.  With  such  as  these,  he  humbled 
mighty  Rome,  and  forced  the  mistress  of  the  world  to 
own  a  master  in  a  traitor.  These  are  the  men  whom 
sceptered  robbers  now  employ  to  frustrate  the  designs 


THE    MERCHANT.  23 

of  God,  and  render  vain  the  bounties  which  his  gracious 
hand  pours  indiscriminately  upon  his  creatures." 

Did  not  the  man  perceive  that  his  large  fortune  would 
be  in  danger,  if  he  thus  stirred  up  his  fellow-citizens  to 
rebellion  ? 

The  British  officers  who  heard  this  fiery  speech  were 
enraged,  and  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Boston  Massacre, 
the  following  year,  when  Doctor  Warren*  was  appointed 
to  deliver  an  oration,  they  went  in  great  numbers  to  the 
Old  South  Church,  to  get  up  a  riot. 

On  the  pulpit  stairs  stood  a  captain  of  fusileers,  toss 
ing  some  bullets  in  his  hands — as  if  patriotic  Americans 
would  be  frightened  by  bullets  !  Frightened,  like  the 
timorous  old  lady,  who  confessed  alarm  at  the  sight  of  a 
gun,  even  if  there  were  no  lock  upon  it !  Finding  the 
bullets  did  not  succeed,  he  raised  the  cry  of  "  Fire !" 
but  the  town-clerk  thundered  him  down,  with  a  louder 
voice,  and  the  solemities  of  the  day  were  concluded  with 
out  any  violent  outbreak.  And  yet  the  storm  must 
come — nay,  was  already  rushing  on — which  would  per 
haps  sweep  away  the  splendid  fortune  of  the  patriotic 
merchant. 

At  this  time  he  was  living  in  Boston,  in  magnificent 
style.  His  coat  and  vest,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the 
day,  were  embroidered  with  gold ;  his  cravat  of  the  finest 

*  The  lamented  Warren,  who,  not  long  after,  was  killed  in  the  bat 
tle  of  Bunker's  Hill. 


24  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

lawn,  was  trimmed  with  lace,  and  his  powdered  wig  tied 
behind  with  a  large  bow  of  black  ribbon.  He  was  com 
manding  in  his  person,  and  attractive  in  his  manners. 
The  stateliness  of  his  equipage,  too,  with  its  "  six  beauti 
ful  bays"  and  "  servants  in  livery,"  doubtless  attracted 
"  stupid  starers  and  loud  huzzas,"  and  his  generous  hos 
pitality  rivalled  that  of  the  modern  merchant-princes  of 
Boston. 

In  1773,  John  found  a  very  deserving  companion  to 
share  the  dignity  and  responsibility  of  his  station,  Miss 
Quincy,  of  Massachusetts. 

High  offices  were  from  time  to  time  bestowed  upon  him 
by  his  native  colony,  but  a  still  greater  honor  awaited 
him  ;  he  was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  chos 
en  President  of  that  venerable  body  in  1775. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  drawn  up  by 
some  of  the  members  of  that  illustrious  Congress. 

"  For  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  re 
liance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,"  they 
mutually  pledged  lives,  fortune  and  sacred  honor.  It 
was  signed,  as  every  American  knows,  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1776.  First  upon  that  Declaration,  our  Boston  mer 
chant  inscribed  his  name — 


THE    MERCHANT.  25 

Plain,  bold  and  strong,  with  its  decidedly  mercantile 
flourish,  there  it  stands  for  our  admiration,  and  that  of 
coming  ages. 

In  its  first  publication,  this  signature  alone  went  forth 
with  the  Declaration,  although  it  had  been  signed  by  all 
the  members  of  the  Congress. 

After  having  filled  with  distinguished  ability  the  office 
of  President  of  Congress,  John  Hancock  returned  home. 
When  Massachusetts  entered  into  the  confederacy  of  the 
Union  and  became  a  State,  John  Hancock  was  chosen  by 
the  free  people,  first  governor  of  the  commonwealth. 
This  office  he  filled,  at  a  time  when  it  was  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  one,  with  great  dignity  and  efficiency. 

It  may  be  said  that  John  Hancock  enjoyed  every  fa 
cility  for  advancement  in  life,  nay,  that  the  full  tide 
of  prosperity  forced  him  onward  with  resistless  cur 
rent.  But,  who  knows  whether  it  be  more  difficult  to 
withstand  the  temptations  of  adversity,  or  prosperity  ? 

The  very  energy  acquired  by  battling  with  adverse 
circumstances  is  of  immense  value. 

The  syrens  who  sang  in  the  ears  of  John  Hancock, 
were  more  likely  to  dash  him  upon  Scylla,  or  beguile  him 
into  Charybdis,  than  those  stern-visaged  dames,  Neglect 
and  Poverty. 

Men  who  would  otherwise  have  been  great  and  useful, 
have  been  lost  to  society,  and  ruined  themselves,  through 
the  "  deceitfulness  of  riches." 
2 


26  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

It  is  a  great  merit  to  sustain  a  good  ancestral  name, 
for  it  requires  superiority  of  mental  and  moral  character ; 
but  to  advance  that  name,  as  did  John  Hancock}  is  far 
more  noble  than  to  inherit 

« All  the  blood  of  all  the  Howards.'" 


CHAPTER    THIRD. 

THE     FINANCIER. 

"  O  Freedom  I  pure  instructress  of  the  mind, 
Blest  bond  of  union,  birthright  of  mankind! 
Thine  is  the  star  that  from  yon  mountain's  height 
Beams  life  and  glory  to  the  nation's  sight ; 
Thine  is  the  voice,  the  talismanic  charm, 
That  warms  the  patriot's  breast,  and  nerves  his  arm."— C.  E.  Long. 

AMONG  the  patriotic  merchants  of  revolutionary  mem 
ory,  was  Robert  Morris.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was 
left  an  orphan.  Previously  to  this,  he  had  been  placed, 
by  his  father,  in  the  counting-house  of  one  of  the  first 
merchants  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Charles  Willing. 

Robert  had  been  sent  to  school  in  that  city,  and  ac 
cording  to  his  own  account  he  had  "  learnt  out,"  and  when 
his  father  expressed  dissatisfaction  at  his  son's  slow  pro 
gress,  the  boy  replied,  "  I  have  learned,  sir,  all  that  he 
(the  schoolmaster)  could  teach  me." 

Robert  had  talents  and  taste,  but  not  for  classic  lore. 
As  a  clerk  in  the  counting-house,  he  was  remarkable 
for  his  faithfulness  and  close  application  to  business. 
His  earnest  endeavors  to  advance  the  interests  of  his 
master,  as  he  always  called  Mr.  Willing,  were  duly 
appreciated. 


28  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

An  auspicious  beginning  this,  for  a  mercantile  career. 

On  one  occasion,  during  the  absence  of  Mr.  Willing, 
the  clerk,  Robert  Morris,  was  informed  of  a  sudden  rise 
of  the  price  of  flour  in  a  distant  commercial  port,  and  he 
immediately  purchased  all  of  the  article  which  he  could 
procure,  and  it  proved  a  profitable  speculation.  Mr.  Wil 
ling  defended  his  clerk  from  accusations  brought  against 
him  by  certain  merchants,  who  complained  that  Robert 
Morris  had  raised  the  price  of  flour.* 

The  testimony  which  Mr.  Charles  Willing  gave  on  his 
death-bed  to  the  good  character  of  his  clerk,  was  an  in 
valuable  legacy  ;  his  last  words  to  him,  were  : 

"  Robert,  always  continue  to  act  as  you  have  done." 

No  sooner  had  Robert  completed  his  "  apprentice 
ship"  than  he  was  taken  into  partnership  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Willing. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  entered  into  that  part 
nership  which  lasted  nearly  forty  years.  "  Rolling 
stones"  were  not  so  common  in  those  days  as  at  present. 
Robert  Morris  had  no  capital  to  bring  into  the  partner 
ship,  excepting  an  extensive  knowledge  of  commercial 
concerns,  unwearied  application  to  business,  and  sterling 
integrity.  He  was  the  acting  partner,  and  his  adven 
turous  spirit,  guided  by  prudence,  soon  rendered  him 
conspicuous  at  home  and  abroad.  Philadelphia  had  at 

*  We  shall  not  enter  here  into  the  vexed  question,  of  the  morality, 
or  immorality  of  speculating  in  breadstuffs. 


THE    MERCHANT.  29 

the  time  no  house  so  extensively  engaged  in  commerce  as 
that  of  Willing  &  Morris.  From  England  they  im 
ported  a  vast  amount  of  manufactured  articles,  and  sent 
back,  besides  money,  articles  of  colonial  produce.  The 
interests  of  the  house  of  Willing  &  Co.  were  very  near 
to  the  heart  (and  purse)  of  Robert  Morris,  but  when 
England  began  to  show  the  teeth  of  her  lion,  and  push 
hard  upon  the  colonists  with  the  horn  of  her  unicorn,  the 
young  merchant  looked  away  from  these  interests,  and 
earnestly  contemplated  these  pugnacious  demonstrations. 

The  lion  soon  began  to  gnash  his  teeth,  and  a  distant 
growl  was  heard ;  the  horn  was  elevated  in  a  haughty 
style,  quite  unendurable  to  Anglo-Saxon  blood ;  and  the 
colonial  subjects  of  his  majesty  George  III.,  heretofore 
among  the  most  loyal  in  the  British  dominions,  now 
placed  themselves  in  an  attitude  of  resistance. 

Alas  !  alas !  that  men  must  still  continue  fighting  ani 
mals  ! 

"  The  Stamp  Act !  What  right  has  England  to  send 
us  over  stamped  paper ?"  said  the  colonists;  " we  will 
not  be  taxed  in  this  mean,  paltry  manner." 

"  With  calm,  steady  determination  let  us  resist  such 
acts  of  oppression,"  said  Robert  Morris. 

Accordingly,  when  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia 
formed  an  agreement  to  import  no  more  British  goods, 
he  preferred  sacrificing  his  own  personal  interests  to  the 
higher  interests  of  his  country,  and  signed  the  agreement. 


30  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

These  measures  did  not  avert  the  threatened  terrible 
crisis. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1*775,  a  company  of 
about  one  hundred  men  were  assembled  at  the  City  Tav 
ern  in  Philadelphia,  to  celebrate  St.  George's  Day — the 
tutelary  saint  of  old  England.  On  that  occasion,  there 
were  present,  hearts  loyal  and  true  to  St.  George  and  the 
dragon. 

The  king's  health  was  given,  as  usual ;  perhaps  there 
were  some  in  the  company  who,  as  Cowper  says, 

"  Did  not  swallow,  but  they  gulped  it  down," 

for  indignation  was  in  their  throats.  However,  they 
were  in  the  midst  of  u  moderate  hilarity"  when  the  as 
tounding  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  communi 
cated  to  the  company.* 

If  a  bomb-shell  had  exploded  in  their  midst,  the  con 
sternation  could  not  have  been  greater.  Most  of  the 
company  instantly  fled  to  their  homes  ;  a  few  remained 
as  though  petrified  by  the  horrible  intelligence.  Among 
them  was  Robert  Morris. 

"  St.  George  of  England,"  was  no  more  to  be  their 
watchword.  Farewell  to  the  patron  saint !  Down  with 
the  lion  and  the  unicorn ! 

*  So  slow  was  then  the  transmission  of  news  from  one  part  of  the  coun 
try  to  the  other,  that  it  was  four  days  from  the  time  the  battle  was 
fought  in  Massachusetts,  before  the  tidings  reached  Philadelphia. 


THE    MERCHANT.  31 

Yet  doubtless  there  were  some  who  saddened  at  the 
thought  of  a  separation  from  the  dear  old  mother  coun 
try.  Mr.  Morris  here  pledged  himself  to  maintain  with 
life  and  fortune  the  interests  of  the  oppressed  colonies. 
Soon  after,  the  people,  knowing  well  his  ability  to  aid 
the  country  with  his  wise  counsels,  selected  him  as  one 
of  their  representatives  in  the  Colonial  Congress. 

Here  his  commercial  knowledge  was  put  in  requisi 
tion.  He  was  appointed  on  a  secret  committee  for  the 
importation  of  arms,  ammunition,  gunpowder  and  mili 
tary  stores,  without  which  the  war,  (dreadful  alternative 
to  which  the  "  old  thirteen"  had  been  driven !)  could  not 
be  prosecuted. 

He  was,  too,  a  member  of  the  Naval  Committee,  to 
devise  ways  and  means  for  furnishing  the  country  with  a 
naval  armament. 

When  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed,  no 
man  wrote  his  name  there  with  a  firmer  hand,  or  truer 
heart,  than  Robert  Morris. 

Gloomy  and  disheartening  was  the  condition  of  the 
suffering  country. 

Congress  was  obliged  to  remove  from  Philadelphia  to 
Baltimore,  because  it  was  believed  that  the  feeble,  half- 
clothed  army  of  Washington  could  offer  no  successful 
resistance  to  the  progress  of  Lord  Cornwallis.  On  the 
very  day  that  Congress  made  this  removal,  Robert  Mor 
ris  borrowed  ten  thousand  dollars  on  his  own  responsi- 


32  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

bility,  relying  solely  on  the  promise  of  indemnification 
from  that  departing  Congress,  which  might  at  any  mo 
ment  be  dissolved. 

Without  this  aid,  the  exertions  of  the  commander-in- 
chief  would  have  been  useless ;  the  hope  and  confidence 
with  which  it  inspired  the  army,  enabled  them  to  give  an 
effectual  check  to  the  enemy,  and  arrest  the  dreaded 
advance  upon  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Morris,  at  this  time,  removed  his  family*  to  the 
country,  but  remained  himself  in  the  city. 

Washington  was  then  encamped  at  the  place  now  called 
New  Hope.  Was  it  so  called  from  the  following  cir 
cumstance'?  History  does  not  inform  us. 

The  general  wrote  to  Mr.  Morris  that  he  could  not 
carry  out  his  plans  without  specie.  His  letter  was  dis 
patched  by  a  confidential  messenger,  who  entered  the 
almost  deserted  city  and  safely  delivered  it  to  Mr.  Mor 
ris,  in  his  counting-house. 

There  sat  the  patriotic  merchant,  now  almost  solitary, 
in  that  very  place,  which  only  a  short  time  previously 
had  been  the  resort  of  substantial  citizens  from  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

Specie !  How  was  he  to  raise  it  for  his  revered 
friend?  His  own  vaults  were  empty.  Gloomy  and 

*  Mr.  Morris  married  Mary  White,  sister  of  the  Eight  Rev.  Bishop 
"White  of  the  diocese  of  Pennsylvania,  "  a  lady  of  exemplary  constancy 
and  virtue,  to  whom  he  was  most  affectionately  attached." 


THE     MERCHANT.  33 

almost  hopeless  he  revolved  the  matter  in  his  mind,  till 
the  shades  of  twilight  warned  him  that  it  was  his  usual 
hour  for  leaving  the  counting-house.  As  he  slowly 
walked  through  the  streets,  fearing  that  he  should  not  be 
able  to  accomplish  what  his  patriotism  led  him  ardently 
to  desire,  he- suddenly  came  upon  an  intimate  friend — a 
friend  indeed.  "  What's  the  news,  friend  Robert  1" 
inquired  the  friend,  the  anxious  countenance  of  Mr.  Mor 
ris  doubtless  prompting  the  inquiry. 

"  The  most  important  news,"  replied  Mr.  Morris,  with 
his  usual  directness  and  decision ;  "  the  most  impor 
tant  news  is,  that  I  require  a  certain  sum  in  specie,  and 
that  you  must  let  me  have  it."  The  friend  looked  grave 
and  thoughtful.  "  My  note  and  my  honor  will  be  your 
security,"  earnestly  continued  Mr.  Morris. 

"  Robert,  thou  shalt  have  it,"  was  the  reply.  And 
what  was  the  result  1 

The  victory  of  Washington  over  the  Hessians  at  Tren 
ton;  for  without  the  all-powerful  "means,"*  even  the 
valor  of  the  commander-in-chief  would  have  been  una 
vailing. 

A  third  time  Robert  Morris  was  appointed,  with  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  George  Clymer  and  others,  to  represent 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  Congress. 

The  winter  of  1777  was  an  exceedingly  trying  one. 

•  "  Means,  my  lord,  means.  How  shall  we  carry  on  the  war  without 
means  ?" 


34  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Mr.  Morris,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Gerry*  and  Mr. 
Jones,  was  sent  to  General  Washington's  head-quarters, 
to  consult  about  the  best  means  of  conducting  the  winter 
campaign. 

His  knowledge  of  financial  concerns,  and  his  unwea 
ried  zeal,  were  of  immense  value.  He  borrowed  money 
to  meet  pressing  demands,  on  his  own  responsibility, 
when  the  state  of  the  public  treasury  was  such  that  the 
government  could  not  procure  a  loan.  Judge  Peters  of 
Philadelphia,  who  was  a  personal  friend  of  Morris,  and 
a  cordial  co-operator  with  him  in  the  struggle  for  free 
dom,  gives  the  following  anecdote  : 

"  In  17T9  or  1T80,  two  of  the  most  distressing  years  of 
the  war,  General  Washington  wrote  to  me  a  most  alarm 
ing  account  of  the  condition  of  the  military  stores,  and 
enjoined  my  immediate  exertions  to  supply  the  deficien 
cies. 

"  There  were  no  musket-cartridges  but  those  in  the 
men's  boxes,  and  they  were  wet ;  of  course,  if  attacked, 
a  retreat  or  a  rout  was  inevitable.  We  (the  board  of 
war)  had  exhausted  all  the  lead  accessible  to  us,  hav 
ing  caused  even  the  spouts  of  the  houses  to  be  melted, 
and  had  offered,  abortively,  the  equivalent  in  paper,  of 
two  shillings  per  pound  for  lead.  I  went  in  the  evening 
of  the  day  on  which  I  received  this  letter,  to  a  splendid  en 
tertainment  given  by  Don  Mirailles,  the  Spanish  minister. 
*  Elbridge  Gerry,  afterwards  Vice  President. 


THE    MERCHANT.  35 

My  heart  was  sad,  but  I  had  the  faculty  of  brightening 
my  countenance  even  under  gloomy  disasters ;  yet  it 
seems  not  sufficiently  adroitly  at  that  time.  Mr.  Mor 
ris,  who  was  one  of  the  guests,  accosted  me  in  his  usual 
blunt  and  disengaged  manner — 

"  £  I  see  some  clouds  passing  across  the  sunny  counte 
nance  you  assume ;  what  is  the  matter  V 

"  After  some  hesitation  I  showed  him  the  general's  let 
ter.  He  played  with  my  anxiety,  which  he  did  not 
relieve  for  some  time.  At  length,  however,  with  great 
and  sincere  delight,  he  called  me  aside,  and  told  me  that 
the  Holkar  privateer  had  just  arrived  at  his  wharf,  with 
ninety  tons  of  lead,  which  she  had  brought  as  ballast. 
4  You  shall  have  my  half  of  this  fortunate  supply,' 
said  Mr.  Morris;  'there  are  the  owners  of  the  other 
half;'  (indicating  gentlemen  in  the  apartment.) 

"  '  Yes  ;  but  I  am  already  under  heavy  personal  en 
gagements,  as  guaranty  for  the  department,  to  those  and 
other  gentlemen.' 

"  '  Well,'  rejoined  Mr.  Morris,  <  they  will  take  your 
assumption  with  my  guaranty.' 

"  I  instantly,  on  these  terms,  secured  the  lead,  left 
the  entertainment,  sent  for  the  proper  officers,  and  set 
more  than  one  hundred  people  to  work  during  the  night. 
Before  morning  a  supply  of  cartridges  was  ready  and 
sent  off  to  the  army." 

Another  writer  says  :  "  When  the  exhausted  credit 


36  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  the  government  threatened  the  most  alarming  conse 
quences  ;  when  the  army  was  utterly  destitute  of  the  ne 
cessary  supplies  of  food  and  clothing ;  when  the  mili 
tary  chest  had  been  drained  of  its  last  dollar,  and  even 
the  confidence  of  Washington  was  shaken — Robert  Mor 
ris,  upon  his  own  credit,  and  from  his  private  resources, 
furnished  those  pecuniary  means,  without  which  all  the 
physical  force  of  the  country  would  have  been  in  vain." 

In  1781,  he  was  unanimously  elected  by  Congress  to 
the  office  of  "  superintendent  of  finance."  This  office  he 
had,  in  effect,  long  enjoyed. 

Mr.  Morris,  in  his  reply  to  President  Washington,  on 
the  subject  of  this  appointment,  writes  as  follows  : 

"  Perfectly  sensible  of  the  honor  done  me  by  this  mark 
of  confidence  from  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  United 
States,  I  feel  myself  bound  to  make  the  acknowledg 
ments  due,"  &c. 

"  So  far  as  the  station  of  superintendent  of  finance,  or 
indeed  any  other  station  or  office,  applies  to  myself,  I 
should,  without  the  least  hesitation,  have  declined  an 
acceptance ;  for,  after  upwards  of  twenty  years'  assiduous 
application  to  business,  as  a  merchant,  I  find  myself  at 
that  period  when  my  mind,  body,  and  inclination,  com 
bine  to  make  me  seek  for  relaxation  and  ease.  Provi 
dence  has  so  far  smiled  on  my  endeavors  as  to  enable  me 
to  prepare  for  the  indulgence  of  those  feelings  in  such  a 
manner  as  would  be  least  injurious  to  the  interests  of  my 


THE    MERCHANT.  37 

family.  If,  therefore,  I  accept  this  appointment,  a  sac 
rifice  of  that  ease,  of  much  social  enjoyment,  and  of  my 
material  interests,  must  be  the  inevitable  consequence." 

"  Putting  myself  out  of  the  question,  the  sole  motive 
is  the  public  good ;  and  this  motive,  I  confess,  comes 
home  to  my  feelings.  The  contest  we  are  engaged  in, 
appeared  to  me,  in  the  first  instance,  just  and  necessary ; 
therefore,  I  took  an  active  part  in  it ;  as  it  became  dan 
gerous,  I  thought  it  the  more  glorious,  and  was  stimu 
lated  to  the  greatest  exertions  in  my  power,  when  the 
affairs  of  America  were  at  the  worst." 

Mr.  Morris  goes  on  to  make  some  stipulations  with 
regard  to  the  office.  When  these  had  been  complied 
with  by  Congress,  he  accepted  the  office,  and  in  doing 
so,  he  writes  to  the  commander-in-chief  as  follows  : 

"  In  accepting  the  office  bestowed  on  me,  I  sacrifice 
much  of  my  interest,  my  ease,  my  domestic  enjoyments, 
and  internal  tranquillity.  If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I 
make  these  sacrifices  with  a  disinterested  view  to  the 
service  of  my  country.  I  am  ready  to  go  still  farther  ; 
and  the  United  States  may  command  everything  I  have, 
except  my  integrity,  and  the  loss  of  that,  would  effect 
ually  disable  me  from  serving  them  more." 

Very  noble  was  all  this  in  Robert  Morris,  for  the  country 
was  in  a  wretched  condition ;  the  dark  clouds  which  had 
been  gathering  since  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution, 
now  assumed  a  fearful  aspect.  Washington,  in  his  Mil- 


OO  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

itary  Journal,  presents  in  detail  the  pitiable  condition  to 
which  the  army  was  reduced.  "  The  workmen  leaving 
the  arsenals." — "  Nothing  in  readiness." — Entire  want 
of  "  ships,  land-troops,  and  money."  Mr.  Morris,  in 
this  exigency,  brought  to  the  service  of  his  country, 
"  mercantile  enterprise,  information  and  credit,  seldom 
equalled." 

With  a  courage  as  honorable  as  that  of  the  soldier  on 
the  field  of  battle,  he  met  the  difficulties,  and  overcame 
them  as  nobly  as  his  quondam  Saint  George  did  the 
dragon. 

He  succeeded  in  raising  the  sinking  credit  of  the  coun 
try,  restoring  confidence  and  reviving  the  hopes  of  his 
desponding  fellow-citizens.  Well  might  Washington  ex 
claim — "  The  abilities  of  the  present  financier  have  done 
wonders  !" 

The  States  were  very  dilatory  in  performing  their  obli 
gations  to  pay  money  into  the  public  treasury.  This 
gave  unceasing  trouble  and  intense  anxiety  to  the  finan 
cier,  yet  in  the  midst  of  harassing  perplexity  he  wrote  to 
General  Washington  :  "I  am  determined  to  continue 
my  efforts  to  the  last  moment,  although  at  present,  I 
know  not  which  way  to  turn  myself." 

Again  he  writes  to  the  commander-in-chief  :  "  I  pray 
that  Heaven  may  direct  your  mind  to  some  mode  by 
which  we  may  yet  be  saved.  I  have  done  all  that  I 
could,  and  given  repeated  warning  of  the  consequences, 


THE    MERCHANT.  39 

but  it  is  like  preaching  to  the  dead.  Every  exertion  I 
am  capable  of  shall  be  continued  while  there  is  the  least 
hope." 

Congress  in  vain  required  the  States  to  make  speedy 
payment  into  the  public  treasury,  that  they  might  settle 
the  arrears  due  to  the  army.  The  delay  exasperated 
the  usually  calm  and  placid  financier  : 

"  It  is  a  mighty  fashionable  thing,"  he  says,  "  to  de 
claim  on  the  virtue  and  sufferings  of  the  army  ;  and  is  a 
very  common  thing  for  those  very  declaimers  to  evade, 
by  one  artifice  or  another,  the  payment  of  those  taxes 
which  alone  can  remove  every  source  of  complaint. 
Now,  sir,  it  is  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference  by  what 
subterfuge  this  evasion  is  effected ;  whether  by  voting 
against  taxes,  or,  what  is  more  usual,  agreeing  to  them 
in  the  first  instance,  but  taking  care,  in  the  second,  to 
provide  no  competent  means  to  compel  a  collection ; 
which  cunning  device  leaves  the  army,  at  last,  as  a  kind 
of  pensionary  upon  the  voluntary  contributions  of  good 
whigs,  and  suffers  those  of  a  different  complexion  to 
skulk  and  screen  themselves  entirely  from  the  weight  and 
inconvenience." 

Here  was  good  strong  English.  Although  Robert 
Morris  was  not  a  classical  scholar,  he  knew  how  to  use 
his  mother  tongue.  Towards  the  end  of  the  war,  some 
French  officers  wrote  an  insolent  letter  to  him,  demand 
ing  immediate  payment.  The  reply,  for  its  brevity, 


40  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

might  have  been  penned  by  Lycurgus;  it  was  a  true 
Lacedaemonian  letter. 

"  Gentlemen — I  have  received  this  morning  your 
application.  I  make  the  earliest  answer  to  it.  You 
demand  immediate  payment.  I  have  no  money  to  pay 
you  with." 

And  yet  no  person  could  be  more  prompt  in  the  pay 
ment  of  just  dues,  when  it  was  possible  to  meet  the 
demand. 

"  In  October,  1782,  he  was  obliged  to  sell  a  portion 
of  clothing,  arrived  for  the  use  of  the  army,  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  debts  for  needle-work,  done  by  peo 
ple  in  extreme  indigence,  amounting  to  twelve  thousand 
dollars." 

Mr.  Morris  had  to  meet  with  ingratitude  and  detrac 
tion.  Being  informed  that  accusations  against  him,  in 
his  official  capacity,  were  about  to  appear,  he  replied : 

"  I  am  very  indifferent  to  the  intended  attacks  on  my 
measures ;  if  those  ingenious  gentlemen  can  point  out 
such  as  are  more  eligible  for  the  public  good,  I  am  ready 
to  pursue  them,  or  of  giving  the  opportunity  of  doing  it 
to  themselves — provided  they  can  prevail  on  America  to 
trust  them  with  my  office — which  I  wish  were  placed  in 
any  other  safe  hands." 

In  November,  1784,  Mr.  Morris  resigned  his  office, 
after  a  laborious,  perplexing  period  of  three  years,  during 
which  time  the  war  had  been  terminated,  and  the  treaty 


THE    MERCHANT.  41 

of  peace  signed,  and  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  recognized.  On  this  occasion,  he  wrote  an  ad 
dress  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  which,  one 
of  his  biographers  says,  "  ought  to  be  incorporated  into 
the  course  of  education  of  the  American  youth." 

Botta,  the  Italian  historian  of  the  "  War  of  Inde 
pendence,"  says  :  "  The  Americans  certainly  owed,  and 
still  owe,  as  much  acknowledgment  to  the  financial  ope 
rations  of  Robert  Morris  as  to  the  negotiations  of  Benja 
min  Franklin,  or  even  to  the  arms  of  Washington." 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Robert  Morris  as  Superintend 
ent  of  Finance,  was  to  establish  a  national  bank.  This 
was  called  the  Bank  of  North  America;  its  object 
was,  in  his  own  language,  "  to  aid  the  government,  to 
gain  from  individuals  that  credit  which  property,  abil 
ity  and  integrity  never  fail  to  command ;  to  supply  the 
loss  of  that  paper  money  which,  becoming  more  and  more 
useless,  calls  every  day  more  loudly  for  its  redemption  ; 
and  to  give  a  new  spring  to  commerce,  in  the  moment 
when,  by  the  removal  of  all  restrictions,  the  citizens  of 
America  shall  enjoy  and  possess  that  freedom  for  which 
they  contend." 

That  freedom  seemed  still  at  a  distance,  beckoning 
them  onward,  however,  with  her  most  winning  smiles. 

The  poor  fellows  who  were  fighting  for  this  purpose  at 
the  South  under  General  Greene,  were  in  as  bad  a  con 
dition  as  those  at  the  North. 


42  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Said  General  Greene :  "  Posterity  will  scarcely  be 
lieve  that  the  bare  loins  of  many  brave  men  who  carried 
death  into  the  enemy's  ranks  at  the  Eutaw,*  were  galled 
by  their  car  touch-boxes,  while  a  folded  rag  or  a  tuft  of 
moss  protected  the  shoulders  from  sustaining  the  same 
injury  from  the  musket." 

A  confidential  agent  was  employed  by  Mr.  Morris, 
through  whom  some  of  the  pressing  wants  of  the  army 
were  supplied,  in  a  manner  quite  puzzling  to  the  General, 
for  there  were  reasons  why  the  financier  should  not  make 
the  arrangements  publicly  known. 

And  now  came  the  grand  finale  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  namely,  the  capture  of  Cornwallis.  And  what 
had  Robert  Morris,  the  merchant,  to  do  with  the  battle 
of  Yorktown  ? 

The  Hon.  Richard  Peters  and  Robert  Morris,  in  the 
month  of  August,  1*781,  repaired  by  order  of  Congress 
to  the  head-quarters  of  the  commander-in- chief  at  Phil- 
lipsburg,  on  York  Island. 

The  French  fleet  under  the  Count  de  Grasse  was  ex 
pected  to  co-operate  with  the  American  troops  in  an 
attack  upon  New  York,  then  in  the  possession  of  the 
British  army.  But  the  French  admiral  broke  his 
engagement  and  sailed  for  the  Chesapeake.  This  un- 
pected  movement  produced  a  sudden  change  in  the  deter 
mination  of  Washington. 

*  Battle  of  Eutaw  Springs. 


THE     MERCHANT.  43 

One  morning  at  the  beating  of  the  reveille,  Mr. 
Morris  and  Mr.  Peters  were  aroused  from  their  slum 
bers  by  a  message  from  head-quarters,  requesting  their 
immediate  attendance.  Somewhat  surprised  at  the  cir 
cumstance,  they  complied  without  delay,  and  found  Gen 
eral  Washington  violently  exclaiming  against  the  breach 
of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  French  admiral.  After  re 
ceiving  the  unwelcome  communication,  the  commissioners 
(Morris  and  Peters)  returned  to  their  tent,  musing  on 
the  past  scene,  and  lamenting  the  total  subversion  of  the 
plan  which  they  had  been  empowered  to  support. 

At  the  usual  hour  of  breakfast  they  returned  to  head 
quarters,  and  found  the  General  as  calmly  engaged  in 
making  out  his  notes  of  the  supplies  he  should  require, 
as  if  nothing  extraordinary  had  happened.  He  had 
already  planned,  in  a  sudden  and  masterly  manner,  the 
course  of  his  future  operations.  His  first  question  was  : 

"  Well,  what  can  you  do  for  me  under  this  unexpect 
ed  disappointment  ?" 

"  Everything  with  money — without  it  nothing,"  re 
plied  Mr.  Peters,  looking  anxiously  towards  the  finan 
cier. 

"I  understand  you,"  said  Mr.  Morris,  "but  I  must 
know  the  amount  you  require." 

Before  the  hour  of  dinner,  Mr.  Peters  having  examined 
the  returns  of  the  commander-in-chief,  communicated 
the  result. 


44  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Mr.  Morris,  with  his  usual  candor,  informed  the  Gen 
eral  that  he  had  not  any  means  whatever  of  furnishing 
the  amount  in  money,  but  would  be  compelled  to  rely 
solely  on  his  credit,  and  that  the  commander-in-chief 
could  decide  whether  he  considered  it  prudent  to  depend 
upon  that  credit. 

Washington  instantly  observed :  "  The  measure  is  in 
evitable  ;  I  must  pursue  it  at  all  hazards." 

The  expedition  against  Cornwallis  having  thus  been 
determined  on,  Mr.  Morris  and  Mr.  Peters,  under  an 
injunction  of  secrecy,  set  out  for  Philadelphia  with  an 
escort,  through  the  shortest  and  most  dangerous  route. 

So  faithfully  was  this  injunction  observed,  that  the 
first  intelligence  received  by  Congress  of  the  movement 
of  the  army,  was  derived  from  the  march  of  American 
troops  through  Philadelphia  on  the  third  of  September. 

Battering  cannon,  field  artillery,  ammunition — all 
these,  together  with  the  expense  of  provision  for,  and 
pay  of  the  troops,  were  to  be  procured,  and  it  was  ac 
complished  on  the  personal  credit  of  Robert  Morris,  who 
issued  his  notes  to  the  amount  of  one  million,  four  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  which  was  finally  all  paid. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  form  an  idea  of  the  energy 
and  perseverance  necessary  to  accomplish  such  arduous 
undertakings.  The  very  cattle  for  the  army  were  ar 
rested  upon  the  road  in  New  Jersey,  because  the  govern 
ment  had  no  ready  money  to  pay  for  pasturage  ! 


THE     MERCHANT.  45 

In  one  of  his  letters  written  at  this  trying  period, 
Mr.  Morris  says  :  "  The  late  movements  of  the  army 
have  so  entirely  drained  me  of  money,  that  I  have  been 
entirely  obliged  to  pledge  my  personal  credit  very  deeply, 
in  a  variety  of  instances,  besides  borrowing  money  from 
my  friends,  and,  advancing  to  promote  the  public  service, 
every  shilling  of  my  own." 

One*  to  whom  we  have  already  been  largely  indebted 
remarks :  "It  may  truly  be  said,  that  the  success  of 
the  American  arms  depended  wholly  on  Robert  Morris  ; 
not  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  but  as  a  private 
citizen ;"  or,  more  reverently  speaking,  upon  that  good 
Providence  which  had  qualified  the  "  man"  for  the  try 
ing  emergency. 

During  the  time  that  Mr.  Morris  was  engaged  in  pub 
lic  service,  he  gave  over  his  own  business  concerns  to  the 
hands  of  others,  that  he  might  exclusively  fix  his  atten 
tion  upon  his  official  duties. 

He  adopted  as  an  invariable  rule,  never  to  recommend 
any  one  to  office.  In  consequence  of  this  he  did  not  se 
cure  a  band  of  pensioned  defenders  and  supporters.  He 
stood  almost  alone  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  complaints 
and  imprecations  of  unsatisfied  claimants. 

In  1787  Mr.  Morris  was  elected  a  member  of  the  con 
vention  which  framed  the  Federal  Constitution.  Subse 
quently,  Washington  offered  him  under  his  administra- 

*  Robert  Wain,  Jr. 


46  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

tion  a  place  in  the  cabinet,  namely,  that  of  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  for  which  he  was  admirably  fitted.  He 
declined  the  honor,  and  recommended  Alexander  Ham 
ilton. 

His  character  as  a  merchant  was  marked  by  sterling 
honesty — this  was  the  immovable  basis.  His  enter 
prise  and  foresight  formed  the  observatory  or  apex  of  the 
superstructure. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  he  was  among  tlio  first 
who  engaged  in  the  East  India  and  China  trade.  For 
this  purpose  he  dispatched  the  ship  Empress,  Captain 
Green,  from  New  York  to  Canton,  and  it  was  the  first 
American  vessel  that  ever  appeared  in  that  port. 

His  enterprise  led  him  to  make  another  attempt,  which 
was  then  a  novel  one.  With  the  aid  of  Mr.  Gouverneur 
Morris  he  marked  out  a  passage  to  China,  termed  an 
"  out  of  season"  passage,  round  the  South  Cape  of  New 
Holland.  This  was  safely  accomplished  by  Captain 
Read,  in  the  ship  Alliance,  in  six  months,  which  was 
then  considered  a  remarkably  short  passage.  It  was 
quite  astonishing  to  British  navigators,  and  the  lords  of 
the  British  admiralty  made  application  to  Mr.  Morris,  to 
learn  the  route  of  the  ship. 

Though  thus  active  and  enterprising,  Mr.  Morris  was 
generous  and  liberal  in  dispensing  his  money  for  the 
good  of  others.  Not  only  did  he  sacrifice  to  the  public 
good  in  various  ways,  but  his  ear  was  open  to  the  de- 


THE    MERCHANT.  47 

mands  of  suffering  humanity,  and  bis  ready  hand  extended 
for  its  relief.  His  hospitality  was  proverbial,  and  this 
hospitality,  though  cordial,  was  said  to  be  "  without  the 
slightest  tinge  of  ostentation."  In  domestic  life  he  was 
kind  and  cheerful,  and  in  his  friendships,  warm  and  de 
voted. 

Robert  Morris  was  remarkable  for  his  independence 
and  decision  of  character.  He  never  cringed  to  human 
being,  or  "  courted  the  countenance  of  living  man."  His 
patience  and  perseverance  were  indomitable,  and  his 
hopefulness,  even  under  the  most  gloomy  circumstances, 
was  admirable. 

These  were  the  elements  of  his  success.  Integrity, 
enterprise,  foresight,  activity,  liberality,  benevolence, 
kindness,  independence,  decision,  patience,  persever 
ance,  hopefulness,  and  we  must  add,  promptness, 
boldness,  and  punctuality — devotion  to  his  own  busi 
ness,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  aid  others  in  promoting 
their  interests. 

Robert  Morris  and  John  Hancock  were  not  the  only 
merchants  who  sacrificed  their  individual  interests  to  the 
good  of  their  country.  On  that  same  glorious  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  where  their  names  are  so  conspic 
uous,  are  other  signatures,  written  by  patriot  merchants. 
Namely :  George  Clymer  of  Pennsylvania,  Elbridge 
Gerry  and  Samuel  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  William 
Whipple  of  New  Hampshire,  Philip  Livingston  and 


48  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Francis  Lewis  of  New  York,  Joseph  Hewes  of  North 
Carolina,  and  Burton  Gwinnett  of  Georgia. 

This  was  the  perilous  time  for  our  country,  when  tal 
ent  of  all  kind  was  called  into  requisition.  The  same 
zeal  and  energy  under  other  circumstances  would  have 
been  directed  towards  benevolent  or  religious  objects.  It 
is  this  consideration  which  renders  the  mercantile  pro 
fession  of  such  vast  importance.  The  wealth  thus  ac 
quired  is  diverted  into  a  thousand  fertilizing  streams  to 
gladden  every  region.  The  merchant,  with  one  hand, 
reaches  the  east,  and  with  the  other  the  west.  His  keen 
vision  explores  the  north  as  far  as  the  polar  ice,  and 
glides  along  the  southern  shores,  where  man  has  not 
found  a  habitation. 

"  Where  sails  the  ship  ?    It  leads  the  Syrian  forth 
For  the  rich  amber  of  the  liberal  North. 
Be  kind,  ye  seas ;  winds,  lend  your  gentlest  wing, 
May  in  each  creek,  sweet  wells  restoring  spring ! 
To  you,  ye  gods,  belongs  the  merchant !    O'er 
The  waves,  his  sails  the  wide  world's  goods  explore ; 
And,  all  the  while,  wherever  waft  the  gales, 
The  wide  world's  goods,  sail  with  him  as  he  sails." 

Schiller. 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

PROGRESS    OF    AMERICAN    COMMERCE. 

"  Wise  men  ne'er  sit  and  wail  their  loss, 
But  cheerly  seek  how  to  redress  their  harms. 
What  though  the  mast  be  now  blown  overboard, 
The  cable  broke,  the  holding  anchor  lost, 
And  half  our  sailors  swallowed  in  the  flood  ? 
Yet  lives  our  PILOT  still." — Shakspeare, 

THE  independence  of  the  United  States  was  now  estab 
lished  upon  a  firm  basis,  but  during  the  long  and  fearful 
struggle,  commercial  pursuits  were  in  a  measure  extin 
guished. 

While  the  ploughshare  was  converted  into  the  sword, 
and  the  pruning-hook  into  the  spear,  no  produce  could  be 
raised  to  export  to  foreign  countries;  and  while  the 
ocean  was  swept  by  the  British  navy,  there  could  be  no 
importations. 

What  was  to  be  done  1    Here  was  an  infant  republic 

pressed  down  by  a  debt  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 

millions   of  dollars.     No  manufactories   to   supply  its 

wants,  but  foreign  articles  to  a  vast  amount  sent  from 

3 


50  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

England,  to  empty  the  purses  of  the  people  of  all  the 
specie  which  had  been  left  in  them.* 

Who  was  to  disperse  the  gloom  which  had  spread  over 
the  wan  and  ghastly  features  of  the  nation  1  A  general 
convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787,  which 
ratified  an  effective  system  for  the  protection  of  com 
merce.  Every  branch  of  industry  soon  revived.  The 
fields  began  to  wave  with  harvests,  manufactures  began 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  country,  and  the  snowy 
wings  of  commerce  were  soon  seen  flying  from  our  ports 
to  every  shore. 

A  severe  check  was  again  given  to  our  national  com 
merce  during  the  war  of  1812-14. 

Great  Britain  was  determined  to  grasp  the  dominion 
of  the  ocean,  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon  indignantly 
exclaimed — "  Britain  must  be  humbled,  were  it  at  the 
expense  of  throwing  back  civilization  for  centuries,  and 
returning  to  the  original  mode  of  trading  by  barter  1" 

"  The  nation  of  shopkeepers,"  as  he  contemptuously 
called  England,  must  be  effectually  humbled,  and  brought 
under  his  haughty,  imperial  sway  !  He  determined  that 
all  neutral  and  commercial  nations  should  give  him  their 
aid,  by  uniting  with  France  against  Great  Britain ;  and 
the  United  States,  he  declared,  should  be  his  ally  or  his 

*  Pitkin,  in  his  Statistics,  mentions,  that  during  the  first  two  years 
after  the  war,  goods  to  the  amount  of  six  millions  of  pounds  sterling 
were  imported  from  England. 


THE    MERCHANT.  51 

enemy.  The  United  States,  therefore,  could  not  remain 
neutral.  They  became  like  a  bundle  of  hay  between  two 
asses — or  an  ass  between  two  bundles  of  hay.  Foreign 
ports  were  declared  by  the  British  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
The  government  of  the  United  States  laid  an  embargo  on 
ports  at  home — merchants  failed,  and  ships  were  for  a 
time  useless  pieces  of  ingenious  workmanship,  decaying 
at  the  wharves. 

A  non-intercourse  act  followed.  The  national  com 
merce  had  received  a  check  from  which  it  hardly  seemed 
possible  that  it  could  soon  recover.  But  the  war  was  at 
length  over,  and,  nothing  daunted,  the  indomitable  enter 
prise  of  the  merchants  again  took  rapid  strides. 

The  able  writer,  from  whom  has  been  derived  much 
valuable  information  with  regard  to  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  says  :  "  It  is  obvious  to  remark,  that  the 
staples  of  our  commercial  export  are  wholly  derived 
from  agriculture,  the  forest,  the  sea,  and  from  manu-, 
factures."* 

Besides  the  staple  of  our  country,  par  excellence,  cot 
ton,  'the  source  of  the  greatest  wealth  to  the  country,  of 
any  of  our  agricultural  products,  the  West  is  pouring  in 
upon  us  an  immense  amount  of  wheat  and  other  grain,  to 
be  consumed  at  home,  or  exported  abroad.  We  may  add 
to  these  the  rice  and  tobacco  which  are  supplied  by  the 

*  James  H.  Lanman.  Ponds,  lakes,  and  rivers,  he  might  have 
added,  since  ice  forms  so  important  an  article  for  exportation. 


52  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

South  and  the  Southwest,  together  with  the  fruit  and 
vegetables  furnished  by  the  orchard  and  the  garden ; 
beef,  horses,  mules,  butter,  cheese,  sheep,  and  other  arti 
cles  derived  from  stock,  husbandry,  and  the  dairy. 

"  Another  important  item  of  our  foreign  exports  is  the 
products  of  the  forest — lumber,  skins,  and  furs,  dyes, 
bark,  pitch,  tar,  rosin,  turpentine,  and  ginseng." 

"  From  the  sea,  we  obtain  for  exportation,  whale  and 
spermaceti  oil,  and  candles ;  cod,  mackerel,  herring, 
shad,  and  salmon,  salted  and  packed  in  barrels ;  whale 
bone,"  &c. 

"  The  products  of  our  manufacturing  enterprise  con 
stitute  another  grand  branch  of  our  domestic  exportation ; 
cotton  and  woollen  goods,  and  all  the  articles  wrought  by 
the  trades." 

"  We  have  already  not  only  furnished  foreign  nations 
with  a  considerable  portion  of  the  products  of  mechani 
cal  industry,  but  in  those  of  the  greatest  practical  utility, 
we  have  supplied  models  even  for  England." 

Our  importations  may  be  deemed  in  some  degree  the 
measure  of  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  country  ;  silks 
and  satins,  laces  and  velvets,  merinos  and  broadcloths, 
feathers  and  flowers,  watches  and  jewelry. 

"  While  we  indulge  in  those  elegancies  which  throw 
a  charm  over  the  barren  track  of  this  working-day  world, 
ought  we  not  to  avoid  the  excesses  of  expenditure  which 
have  sunk  many  thousands  of  families  in  ruin,  and  many 


THE    MERCHANT.  53 

a  stout  heart  in  the  darkness  and  despair  of  blasted 
hopes  ?" 

"  The  ports  which  stud  our  Atlantic  frontier  are  made 
the  great  reservoirs  of  commerce,  through  which  are  dis 
tributed,  to  every  part  of  the  nation,  the  comforts  and  the 
luxuries  of  distant  climes,  all  contributing  to  adventurous 
industry,  and  all  adding  to  the  grand  aggregate  of  human 
power." 

"  We  look  abroad  upon  the  ocean,  and  there  we  find 
our  commerce  floating  from  the  icebergs  of  Greenland  to 
the  burning  sands  of  the  African  desert ;  from  the  marble 
pillars  of  the  Acropolis  and  the  walls  of  China,  to  the 
wigwams  of  the  remotest  savages  on  the  North  Pacific, 
and  the  snow  huts  of  the  Esquimaux.  Its  sails  are  filled 
by  the  blasts  of  the  polar  sky,  and  the  zephyr  that 
breathes  upon  the  sunny  fields  and  crumbling  columns  of 
Italy.  It  stores  its  freights  in  the  ports  of  Liverpool  and 
Marseilles,  or  takes  in  its  olives  and  maccaroni  by  the 
side  of  the  Venetian  gondolier ;  everywhere  increasing  the 
amount  of  human  knowledge,  and  acting  as  the  agent  of 
that  liberty  which  is  destined  ultimately  to  brighten  upon 
the  world.?' 

"  With  such  a  territory  as  we  possess,  containing  agri 
cultural  and  manufacturing  resources  such  as  are  enjoyed 
by  no  other  nation,  and  settled  by  a  people  who  are  by 
our  political  constitution  invested  with  a  scope  and 
motive  for  action  that  are  furnished  by  no  other  nation 


54  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

upon  the  earth,  we  look  forward  with  fervent  hope  of  a 
glorious  destiny  for  our  commerce — to  the  period  when 
our  commercial  flag  shall  wave  in  all  parts  of  the  earth, 
carrying  to  every  nation  the  blessings  of  civilization, 
knowledge,  liberty,  and  religion." 

Having  rapidly  glanced  at  the  progress  of  commerce 
in  this  country  since  its  first  settlement,  and  shown  its 
present  flourishing  condition,  the  question  naturally 
arises — Where  else,  on  earth,  would  it  be  more  desirable 
to  be  a  merchant?  Where  else  could  a  merchant  be 
equally  successful,  honorable,  and  useful  ? 


CHAPTER    FIFTH. 

KNOWLEDGE. 


"  It  is  not '  how  much'  a  man  may  know,  but  to  '  what  end  and  purpose'  he  knows  it, 
that  constitutes  the  value.  There  may  be  a  man  who  has  a  perfectly  well-constituted 
and  disciplined  mind,  and  who  yet  does  not  know  one  letter  of  the  alphabet ;  and  so 
may  there  be  men  whose  minds  are  unstable  and  good  for  nothing,  although  they  have 
'gone  through'  all  the  courses  of  education  at  all  the  schools  and  college." — Mudie. 

"  O  books  !  ye  monuments  of  mind,  concrete  wisdom  of  the  wisest, 
Sweet  solaces  of  daily  life,  proofs  and  results  of  immortality, 
Gentle  comrades,  kind  advisers;  friends,  comforts,  treasures." — Tupper. 


YOUR  aim  is  to  be  a  good  merchant.  A  noble  aim,  if 
you  attain  the  end  by  noble  means. 

The  Americans  have  frequently  been  taunted  with  the 
opprobrious  accusation,  that  their  motto  is,  "  Get  money 
— honestly,  if  you  can,  but  at  any  rate  get  money ;"  as 
though  the  love  of  money  were  peculiar  to  this  country  ! 

Gold  is  everywhere  worshipped ;  it  is  as  truly  an  idol 
now,  as  it  was  when  the  Israelites  prostrated  themselves 
before  it  as  a  golden  calf,  or  the  Greeks  as  a  golden 
Jupiter. 

"  The  appetite  for  gold,  unslumbering," 


56  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

continues  from  age  to  age,  and  too  often  becomes  "  a 
ravenous,  all-devouring  hunger." 
"  And  many  in  hot  pursuit  have  hasted  to  the  goal  of  wealth, 
But  have  lost,  as  they  ran,  those  apples  of  gold,  the  mind  and  the  power 
to  enjoy  it." 

The  object  of  the  merchant  is  most  assuredly  to  ac 
quire  money,  but  he  need  not  make  it  the  sole  end  and 
aim  of  his  whole  mortal  existence.  He  may  become  rich, 
and  yet  enjoy  himself  rationally  while  engaged  in  the 
pursuit. 

We  would  therefore  consider  a  good  education,  a  thor 
oughly  good  training  for  the  specific  object  in  view,  as 
essential  to  the  merchant,  who,  in  his  own  phraseology, 
would  rank  as  A  No.  1. 

The  distinguished  merchant,  Thomas  Eddy  of  New 
York,  to  be  sure,  said  of  himself,  "  All  the  learning  I 
acquired  was  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  as  far  as 
vulgar  fractions.  As  to  grammar,  I  could  repeat  some 
of  the  definitions  by  rote,  but  was  totally  ignorant  of  its 
principles." 

This,  however,  was  when  Thomas  Eddy  was  only  thir 
teen  years  old.  Of  his  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  he  cer 
tainly  made  excellent  practical  use,  and  his  grammatical 
knowledge  undoubtedly  had  increased  when  he  after 
wards  corresponded  with  such  men,  across  the  Atlantic, 
as  Roscoe,  Colquhoun,  Jeremy  Bentham,  and  Lindley 
Murray,  the  very  patriarch  of  grammarians. 


THE    MERCHANT.  57 

No  doubt  Thomas  would  have  been  glad  if  he  had,  in 
early  life,  instead  of  merely  learning  by  rote  the  defini 
tions  of  English  grammar,  acquired  facility  in  speaking 
and  writing  the  language  grammatically. 

This  every  merchant  should  be  able  to  do.  His  own 
strong  mother  tongue  he  ought  to  manage  with  clearness 
and  precision. 

He  is  to  come  in  contact  with  men  in  all  the  conditions 
and  "  grades"  of  human  life.  He  may  be  required  to 
use  the  refined  phraseology  of  the  drawing-room,  the 
energetic  elegance  of  the  senate  chamber,  and  the  nauti 
cal  terms  of  the  sea-captain.  His  intercourse  with  soci 
ety  will  give  him  an  opportunity  to  hear  it  spoken  with 
fluency  and  spirit ;  his  intercourse  with  books,  English 
and  American,  to  learn  to  use  it  with  clearness  and  pre 
cision.  He,  as  well  as  the  lawyer,  is  to  employ  language 
to  influence  men's  minds,  and  sway  them  to  his  own  pur 
poses. 

That  wicked  wit,  Dean  Swift,  says,  that  in  the  arith 
metic  of  the  custom-house,  two  and  two  do  not  make 
four.  The  arithmetic  of  the  merchant  should  never 
vary — two  and  two  make  four  to  the  buyer — two  and 
two  to  the  seller. 

A  good  merchant  should  have  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  Arithmetic  .and  Book-keeping  : 

"  Attentive  be,  and  I'll  impart 
What  constitutes  the  accountant's  art. 

3* 


58  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

This  rule  is  clear ;  what  I  receive, 
I  debtor  make  to  what  I  give. 
I  debit  Stock  with  all  my  debts, 
And  credit  it  for  my  effects. 
The  goods  I  buy,  I  debtor  make 
To  him  from  whom  those  goods  I  take  ; 
Unless  in  ready  cash  I  pay, 
Then  credit  what  I  paid  away. 
For  what  I  lose  or  make,  'tis  plain 
I  debit  Loss  and  credit  Gain. 
The  debtor's  place  is  my  left  hand, 
Creditor  on  my  right  must  stand. 
If  to  these  axioms  you'll  attend, 
Book-keeping  you'll  soon  comprehend; 
And  double-entry  you  will  find 
Elucidated  to  your  mind." 

Although  this  waif  from  an  old  newspaper  is  entitled 
"  The  Poetry  of  Book-keeping,"  we  confess  there  is  more 
common  sense  than  poetry  in  the  rough  lines,  and  in  fact 
poetry  may  be  the  book-keeper's  amusement,  but  it  is  not 
very  nearly  related  to  his  occupation.  To  be  ready  with 
figures  1,  2  and  3,  is  of  vastly  more  consequence  to  him 
than  to  be  intimately  acquainted  with  figures  of  speech. 

"  Merchants,"  says  Roger  North,  "  are  infinitely  cu 
rious  in  the  fairness,  regularity  and  justice  of  their 
books,  which  they  esteem  as  authentic  registers,  con 
cerning  not  only  themselves,  but  all  other  persons  they 
have  had  dealings  with,  or  may  derive  interest  thereupon ; 
and  to  such  books  appeals  are  commonly  made,  for  they 


THE    MERCHANT.  59 

are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  truth,  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  of  all  that  is  done;  and  disposed  in  a 
method,  videlicet  by  waste,  journal  and  ledger,  the  most 
exquisite  for  repertory  and  use  that  the  wit  of  man,  with 
utmost  application,  has  been  willing  to  frame." 

"  Appeals,"  as  North  says,  "  are  made  to  books  even 
by  the  law,  if  a  man  can  prove  that  his  books  are  kept 
with  exact  correctness."  These  correct  books  are  the 
merchant's  patent  scales,  by  which  a  hair's  weight  of 
gain  or  loss  may  be  detected. 

The  lawyer  and  the  author  consider  themselves  as  hav 
ing  a  special  license  to  write  illegible.  No  matter  how 
cramped  and  crabbed  their  chirography,  they  exclaim, 
"  Well,  who  expects  us  to  write  copy-hand  ?"  A  fault, 
indeed,  it  is ;  and  many  a  client  of  the  one,  and  type 
setter  for  the  other,  has  bitterly  condemned  the  foolish 
notion,  or  the  carelessness,  which  has  occasioned  to  them 
so  much  trouble  and  perplexity. 

But  the  merchant — his  handwriting  should  be  clear 
and  elegant.  His  books  must  be  kept  u  shipshape  and 
Bristol  fashion" — no  blots — no  erasures  ;  he  prides  him 
self  upon  their  beautiful  appearance. 

Besides  a  thorough  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  the 
higher  branches  of  mathematics  will  claim  his  attention  ; 
algebra  and  geometry  are  almost  indispensable.  If  he 
can  add  to  these  some  knowledge  of  surveying  and  nav 
igation  they  will  be  useful  acquisitions. 


60  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

The  merchant  may  thus  be  able  to  test  the  correctness 
of  the  log-books  of  the  sea-captains  who  sail  in  his  service. 

Moreover,  mathematics  so  steady  and  discipline  the 
mind,  and  give  such  power  to  the  faculty  of  attention, 
that  every  young  merchant  would  surely  desire  to  avail 
himself  of  means  so  likely  to  ensure  success. 

An  accurate,  extensive  knowledge  of  Geography,  will 
prove  invaluable  to  the  merchant.  Not  the  superficial 
smattering  of  the  school-boy  alone,  should  content  him. 
In  his  commercial  relations  with  other  countries  he  must 
not  only  understand  what  are  the  climate  and  produc 
tions  of  far-distant  regions,  in  order  that  he  may  depend 
upon  profitable  return-cargoes,  but  he  must  be  familiar 
with  the  social  and  political  condition  of  different  nations, 
their  tastes,  manners  and  customs,  that  his  ships  may  be 
freighted  with  those  very  articles  which  will  minister  to 
their  wants — else  he  may  send  furs  to  Liberia,  and  ice 
to  Norway. 

Look  at  a  list  of  articles  imported  into  China  :  u  Biche- 
de-mer,  betel-nut,  Malay  camphor,  nutmegs,  elephant's 
teeth,  shark's  fins,  pepper,  rice,  Japan-wood,  cubebs, 
gamboge,  tortoise-shell,  mangrove-bark,  bees'- wax,  birds' 
nests,  cloves,  ebony,  fish  maws,  gambir,  rattans, 
sandal-wood,  tin,  dragon's  blood,  mother  of  pearl  shells, 
gold,  eagle-wood."  What  an  assorted  cargo  would 
that  be  for  Ireland  during  a  famine,  or  even  for  the 
United  States  at  any  time  ! 


THE    MERCHANT.  61 

A  well-known  merchant  in  Boston,  who  blundered  into 
a  large  fortune,  inquired  of  some  person,  what  would  be 
a  profitable  "  venture"  for  the  West  Indies.  The  re 
ply  was,  "Warming-pans."  Accordingly  the  eager 
merchant  purchased  a  large  quantity  for  that  market, 
where  the  heat  is  so  intense  that  they  cannot  bear  to  look 
at  a  fire,  and  forthwith  dispatched  them.  And  strange 
to  say,  it  proved  a  profitable  speculation !  the  West 
Indians  buying  them  for  molasses-ladles  and  skim 
mers. 

Some  English  merchants,  several  years  since,  made  al 
most  as  bad  a  mistake ;  worse  in  the  result.  Knowing  that 
pasturage  was  exceedingly  rich  in  some  parts  of  South 
America,  they  sent  out  some  of  the  finest  milch-cows  to 
that  country  and  everything  belonging  to  a  dairy,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  butter.  They  built  their  dairy -house 
— they  were  supplied  with  the  best  possible  churns  ;  the 
pasturage  was  very  grateful  to  the  cows,  and  the  butter 
was  at  length  made — "  beautiful"  butter,  which  would 
have  gained  a  prize  side  by  side  with  Orange  County 
butter.  But  alas,  for  the  sequel !  The  natives  had 
no  taste  for  butter !  They  preferred  following  the 
custom  of  their  forefathers  and  eating  oil  on  their 
bread — rancid  oil ;  so  the  speculators  neither  buttered 
the  bread  of  the  natives,  nor  their  own.  If  the  wheat- 
crop  fail  at  home,  the  knowing  merchant  will  not 
send  his  vessels  to  the  West  Indies  for  breadstuff's, 


62  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

when  the  Vistula  at  Dantzic*  will  serve  his  purpose 
far  better. 

He  will  not  send  cotton  to  Egypt,  for  his  maxim  will 
be,  "  Buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and  sell  in  the  dearest." 

To  spare  himself  the  "  want-wit  sadness,"  of  which 
Antonio  speaks,  in  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  he  ought  to 
know  of  the  periodical  winds  and  storms  which  sweep 
over  continents  and  oceans.  This  knowledge  would  re 
lieve  him  in  part  from  the  trouble  of 

"  Plucking  the  grass  to  know  where  sets  the  wind ; 
Prying  in  maps  for  ports  and  piers  and  roads." 

Salanio  says  to  his  friend  the  merchant, 

"  I  should  not  see  the  sandy  hour-glass  run, 
But  I  should  think  of  shallows  and  of  flats. 
Should  I  go  to  church 
And  see  the  holy  edifice  of  stone, 
And  not  bethink  me  straight  of  dangerous  rocks  ? 
Which  touching  but  my  gentle  vessel's  side 
Would  scatter  all  her  spices  on  the  stream  ; 
Enrobe  the  roaring  waters  with  my  silks ; 

*  An  English  merchant  mentions  that  he  saw  at  Dantzic  heaps  of 
wheat  five  or  six  feet  deep,  and  of  considerable  breadth,  extending  for 
several  miles  along  the  Vistula.  It  was  preserved  from  the  effects  of 
the  weather  by  a  covering  of  matting,  or  sail-cloth.  Several  thou 
sands  of  persons  are  constantly  employed  in  turning  this  immense 
quantity  of  grain,  upon  which  mean  time  they  subsist,  boiling  it  in 
water  from  the  river.  This  astonishing  superabundance  of  produce 
has  been  brought  from  Gallicia  and  Poland  to  its  present  situation  for 
the  purpose  of  being  exported  to  foreign  countries. 


THE    MERCHANT.  63 

And  in  a  word,  but  even  now  worth  this, 
And  now  worth  nothing  !" 

The  prudent  Antonio  replies — 

"  My  ventures  are  not  in  one  bottom  trusted, 
Nor  to  one  place ;  nor  is  my  whole  estate 
Upon  the  fortune  of  this  present  year." 

A  young  merchant  heard  it  mentioned  that  a  ship  was 
in  jeopardy. 

"  Jeopardy,"  said  he,  "  what  port  is  that  V9  and  then 
as  if  half  ashamed  to  have  asked  a  question  which  every 
body  ought  to  know,  he  quickly  added,  "  Oh,  I  know, 
it  is  somewhere  near  Gibraltar." 

This,  however,  is  not  a  worse  mistake  than  that  of  the 
lawyer,  who  thinking  quarantine  was  an  island,  said  to  a 
witness  in  court,  who  mentioned  that  at  a  certain  time  he 
was  in  quarantine,  "  Where  is  Quarantine  situated  1" 
interrupted  the  lawyer.  Geography,  most  assuredly,  is 
not  to  be  despised. 

Modern  languages  are  of  great  use  to  the  merchant. 
Latin  and  Greek  are  not  of  as  much  consequence  to  him 
as  French  and  Spanish.  These  two  he  ought  by  all 
means  to  speak  and  write  fluently.  Portuguese,  Italian, 
and  German,  he  can  add,  if  he  have  time  and  opportu 
nity.  His  intercourse  with  foreign  countries  may  bring 
them  all  into  requisition. 


64  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

He  should  know  something  of  the  laws  of  his  country, 
especially  mercantile  law.  This  knowledge  may  save 
the  merchant  many  a  fat  fee,  which  would  otherwise  have 
gladdened  the  lawyer's  pocket,  and  prevent  losses  of 
various  kinds. 

An  anecdote  is  told  of  an  English  judge,  as  follows  : 
In  a  case  of  mercantile  law  which  related  to  some  Russia 
ducks,  his  honor  was  very  much  puzzled  to  know  how 
Russia  ducks  could  be  damaged  by  sea-water  ! 

Mercantile  law,  relating  as  it  does  to  insurance,  bro 
kerage,  bills  of  exchange,  insolvency,  bankruptcy  and 
partnership,  should  be  well  understood  by  a  thoroughly 
educated  merchant. 

In  this  age  of  railroads,  steam-engines,  and  electro 
magnetic  telegraphs,  he  would  not  dare  to  be  ignorant 
of  Natural  and  Mechanical  Philosophy.  The  very  chil 
dren  in  these  days  lisp  of  hydrostatics  and  hydraulics. 

"  One  of  the  distinctions  of  our  times  is,  that  science 
has  passed  from  speculation  into  life.  It  is  sought  as  a 
mighty  power,  by  which  nature  is  not  only  to  be  opened 
to  thought,  but  to  be  subjected  to  our  needs.  It  is  con 
ferring  on  us  that  dominion  over  earth,  sea  and  air,  which 
was  prophesied  in  the  first  command  given  to  man  by  his 
Maker;*  and  thus  dominion  is  not  employed  now  to 
exalt  a  few,  but  to  multiply  the  comforts  and  ornaments 
of  life  for  the  multitude  of  men. 

*  Genesis,  i.  28. 


THE    MERCHANT.  65 

"  It  would  lay  open  the  secrets  of  the  polar  ocean,  and 
of  untrodden,  barbarous  lands.  Above  all,  it  investi 
gates  the  laws  of  social  progress,  of  arts  and  institutions 
of  government,  and  political  economy,  proposing  as  its 
great  end  the  alleviation  of  all  human  burdens — the  weal 
of  all  the  members  of  the  human  family." 

The  lyceums,  mercantile  library  associations,  and 
young  men's  institutes,  profusely  scattered  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  country,  afford  invaluable 
opportunities  for  hearing  lectures  on  all  scientific  topics. 
Besides,  the  libraries  connected  with  these  institutions 
afford  ample  means  for  pursuing  a  topic  farther  than  can 
be  done  in  a  single  lecture,  or  a  course  of  lectures.  The 
Mercantile  Library  of  the  New  York  Association,  con 
tains  upwards  of  thirty  thousand  volumes. 

Matthew  Carey,  in  his  autobiography,  mentions  that 
he  was  himself  a  voracious  reader.  Like  Franklin,  he 
devoured  a  whole  circulating  library.  This  indiscrimi 
nate  reading  is  mentally  unwholesome — too  many  books 
are  thus  "  swallowed  whole,"  and  very  few  "  chewed  and 
digested." 

The  "books  which  are  books"  for  the  young  mer 
chant,  are  thus  to  be  ruminated.  History,  biography 
and  travels,  will  be  infinitely  more  valuable  to  him  than 
high-wrought  romance,  or  thrilling  poetry. 

Yet,  romance  and  poetry  he  may  enjoy  moderately,  as 
a  recreation ;  they  will  not  retard  him  "  on  the  full  tide 


66  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  successful  experiment ;"  they  are  only  the  gay  stream 
ers  of  the  vessel,  while  the  strong  sails  are  filled  with  the 
breeze,  and  the  ship  steady  with  heavy  ballast. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  corrupting  literature 
which  has  come  in  upon  us  like  a  flood  of  fire  1  Heated 
lore  to  destroy  the  very  life  of  morality !  Bad  books  ! 
The  young  merchant  should  cast  them  away  with  ten 
times  more  indignation  than  he  does  counterfeit  coin. 
Would  that  all  who  write  or  publish  them  could  be  pun 
ished  like  the  felon  counterfeiter !  for  they  are  a  more  ma 
lignant  ofiense  against  the  community  than  false  money. 

There  is  one  very  old-fashioned  book,  which  will  furnish 
him  with  the  best  possible  moral  ballast; — of  course  every 
young  merchant  has  a  Bible ;  perhaps  on  the  fly-leaf  of 
this  blessed  book  is  written  "  the  love  and  prayers  of 
his  mother."  We  trust  it  is  not  resting  quietly  in  the 
trunk  where  it  was  placed  by  that  kind,  maternal  hand. 

His  education,  even  his  practical  education  as  a 
merchant,  would  not  be  complete  without  an  acquaint 
ance  with  the  proverbs  of  Solomon. 

A  late  writer  says,  "  If  a  man  wants  to  learn  worldly 
wisdom,  and  save  his  head  from  many  a  hard  knock,  we 
would  first  of  all  say  to  him,  read  the  PROVERBS  OF 
SOLOMON.  If  he  would  get  it  from  a  countryman  of  our 
own,  let  him  study  FRANKLIN,  whose  practical  influence 
upon  the  United  States,  of  all  the  revolutionary  fathers, 
has  been  the  most  lasting,  and  whose  personal  has  at 


THE    MERCHANT.  67 

length  become,  in  so  many  respects,  our  national  char 
acter."* 

Political  economy  is  another  science,  (if  anything  so 
unsettled  can  be  called  a  science,)  with  which  the  mer 
chant  should  endeavor  to  become  acquainted. 

Our  rapidly  increasing  population — these  swarms  of 
emigrants — what  is  to  be  done  with  them  1  Are  they, 
like  locusts,  to  eat  us  out  of  house  and  home ;  or,  like 
bees,  to  provide  for  themselves  house  and  home  1 

That  they  may  effect  the  latter  "  consummation,  de 
voutly  to  be  wished,"  work  must  be  provided  for  them. 
They  have  come  with  the  fond  hope  of  the  Irish  emigrant, 
that 

"  There's  bread  and  work  for  all ; — 
The  sun  shines  always  there." 

God  grant,  that  the  sun  of  prosperity  may  continue 
to  smile  upon  our  broad  land ! 

The  merchant  must  look  well  to  the  interests  of  the 
emigrant  strangers.  Free  trade — that  is  another  point 
about  which  he  will  consult  political  economy. 

Agriculture  and  manufactures,  as  the  means  of  wealth, 
he  will  have  occasion  to  inquire  about.  Labor  is  the 
first,  second  and  third  thing  in  political  economy. 

"  The  strength,  happiness,  and  true  civilization  of  a 
community  are  determined  by  nothing  more  than  by  fra- 

*  Note  A. 


68  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

ternal  union  among  all  conditions  of  men.  For  the  sake 
of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor,  there  should  be  mutual 
interest  binding  them  together.  There  should  be  but 
one  caste,  that  of  humanity."* 

In  addition  to  the  knowledge  obtained  through  books, 
the  merchant  has  much  to  learn  from  observation.  He 
must  have  eager,  attentive  ears  and  eyes.  There  is 
in  every  trade  and  profession,  a  sort  of  Free-masonry, 
not  kept  secret  under  oath,  but  yet  only  learnt  by  the 
initiated. 

The  various  ways  of  managing  mercantile  concerns, 
can  only  be  learnt  by  a  careful  observer.  Those  vile 
things  called  "  tricks  of  the  trade,"  must  be  known,  to 
be  avoided  and  to  be  guarded  against. 

"  The  multitude  of  matters  to  be  done,  the  when,  and  where  and  how, 
And  varying  shades  of  character,  to  do,  undo  or  miss  them — 
All  these  and  many  more" — 

can  only  be  learnt  by  keen-sighted  observation. 

*  Channing. 


CHAPTER   SIXTH. 

INTEGRITY. 

"  To  thine  own  self  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 

Polonius  in  Hamlet. 

"  How  many  thousand  acres  of  our  new  land  would  be  required  to  purchase  the  regal 
jewels  which  now  blaze  within  the  walls  of  the  Tower  of  London,  or  the  brilliants 
which  sparkle  in  the  regalia  of  an  Eastern  princess.  We  propose  to  devote  a  brief  space 
to  the  consideration  of  the  principal  jewels  now  in  use,  and  their  commercial  value." 

First  and  foremost,  that  diamond  of  priceless  value — 
Integrity. 

The  Roman  soldier,  ere  he  faced  the  foe,  was  armed  in 
panoply  of  steel ;  the  polished  greaves  and  breastplate, 
and  the  helmet  with  the  visor  down,  defended  his  person, 
and  before  him  he  held  the  invulnerable  shield.  A  moral 
panoply,  equally  strong,  is  needed  for  the  young  man 
who  enters  into  the  warfare  of  commercial  life.  Is  it 
that  the  buyer  and  seller  are  naturally  mortal  enemies  1 

So  long  as  there  is  craft  and  subtilty,  and  dishonesty 
and  meanness,  in  the  world,  this  warfare  will  continue ; 
but  let  it  be  met  by  integrity,  stern  unflinching  integrity, 


TO  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

and  in  the  end,  young  man,  you  will  come  off  victorious. 
True,  you  may  receive  many  a  cut  and  thrust  by  the 
way ;  you  may  see  other  and  ignoble  means  for  a  time 
successful,  and  doubt  whether  honesty,  after  all,  is  indeed 
the  best  policy,  but  persevere,  and  in  the  end  you  will 
acknowledge  it  so  to  be,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word. 
Your  coffers  may  not  as  rapidly  fill  to  the  brim,  but  they 
will  be  steadily  filling,  and  that  is  success  ;  successful 
you  will  be,  moreover,  in  having  kept  your  conscience  un 
sullied  ;  in  the  approbation  and  esteem,  not  only  of  the 
good,  but  even  the  bad,  for  they  can  respect  the  honest 
man ;  but  above  all,  successful  in  receiving  at  last,  the 
commendation  beyond  all  earthly  praise,  from  the  Al 
mighty  Ruler — "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant." 

Of  the  late  Joseph  May,  of  Boston,  his  biographer 
says  :  "  His  eighty-one  years  were  so  spent  that  few  men 
ever  went  more  truly  lamented  to  the  grave.  His  judi 
cious  benevolence,  his  noble  elevation  of  sentiment,  his 
unimpeachable  purity  of  purpose,  his  many  years  of  pub 
lic  usefulness,  his  joy  in  advanced  years  and  happiness 
at  the  approach  of  death,  may  well  fasten  upon  him  pro 
fitably  our  passing  thoughts. 

"  His  integrity  has  never  been  questioned.  It  passed 
through  the  trial  of  adversity  and  failure  in  business 
without  a  stain.  His  conscientious  honesty  moved  him 
to  give  up  all  to  his  creditors,  even  the  ring  upon  his 
finger." 


THE    MERCHANT.  71 

"  The  public  confidence  continually  called  him  to  the 
charge  of  most  important  public  institutions,  and  to 
private  trusts  of  the  most  delicate  nature  ;  to  the  guar 
dianship  of  children,  the  administration  of  estates,  and  the 
oversight  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan." 

The  richest  of  the  well-known  Salem  merchants  has 
received  the  following  tribute  from  one*  who  formerly 
sailed  in  his  service. 

"  The  late  William  Gray,  by  his  successful  mercan 
tile  career,  well  illustrated  the  truth  of  the  homely 
adage,  '  Honesty  is  the  best  policy.'  Although  bold  in 
his  speculations,  he  was  prudent  in  his  calculations,  and 
Fortune  smiled  upon  his  undertakings.  But  William 
Gray  was,  emphatically,  an  honest  man.  Not  a  dollar 
of  his  immense  wealth  was  acquired  by  violating,  directly 
or  indirectly,  the  laws  of  any  country." 

"  Having,  on  a  number  of  occasions,  had  charge  of  large 
amounts  of  property  belonging  to  him,  we  have  had 
abundant  opportunities  of  knowing  the  manner  in  which 
he  transacted  his  mercantile  operations,  and  we  have 
often  had  occasion  to  admire  the  stern  integrity  which 
formed  a  prominent  feature  in  his  character." 

It  was  said  of  Nicholas  Brown,  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island — "  To  every  emergency  he  was  found  fully  equal, 
nor  quailed  he  in  those  dark  hours  of  anxiety,  to  which 
the  merchant  who  trusts  his  all  on  the  bosom  of  the  deep, 

*  Captain  John  S.  Sleeper,  Editor  of  the  Boston  Mercantile  Journal, 


72  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

is,  more  than  any  other  man,  liable  to  experience.  Nor 
were  the  winds  and  waves,  nor  the  tempests  that 
dance  so  wildly  upon  the  sea,  his  only  or  his  worst  ene 
mies.  Wars  troubled  the  ocean,  and  armed  ships  swept 
its  surface ;  and  the  vessel  of  the  peaceful  trader  was 
seized  and  condemned.  The  French  Revolution,  carry 
ing  the  destructive  policy  of  restrictive  measures  in  its 
train,  hurled  its  stormy  elements  through  the  commercial 
world,  burying  the  fortunes  and  crushing  the  prospects 
of  hundreds  in  their  course  ;  and  many  years  later  came 
the  struggle  between  the  infant  navy  of  our  own  country, 
and  the  colossal  maritime  power  of  Great  Britain,  spread 
ing  disasters  to  the  commerce  of  American  merchants 
throughout  every  clime  and  on  every  sea ;  and  through 
both  these  whirlwind  periods,  firm  as  a  rock  stood  the 
mercantile  reputation  of  Brown  and  Ives  ;  the  mind  of 
its  senior  partner  growing  more  calm  and  active,  and 
calling  new  resources  to  its  aid,  as  the  elements  gathered 
more  threatening  around  the  commercial  fortunes  of  his 
house.  That  Nicholas  Brown  was  honorable  in  his  deal 
ings,  and  forgot  not  the  probity  and  integrity  of  the  man, 
in  the  gain-loving  spirit  of  the  trader,  we  need  hardly 
affirm ;  this  indeed  is  evidenced  in  nothing  so  strongly 
as  in  his  long-prospered  life,  for  seldom  do  we  see  the 
career  of  half  a  century  flourish  without  interruption, 
upon  the  earnings  of  dishonesty  and  fraud." 

When  the  banking  concern  with  which  Mr.  Roscoe  of 


THE    MERCHANT.  73 

Liverpool  was  connected,  was  forced  to  suspend  payment, 
he  took  upon  himself  the  immense  task  of  satisfying  in 
full  the  creditors. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  one  of  his  friends,  he  says  : 
"  In  the  present  state  of  things  it  will  be  long  before  the 
principal  can  be  wholly  paid,  but  the  greater  part  will 
be  discharged  in  two  or  three  years  ;  and  as  both  prin 
cipal  and  interest  will  be  eventually  paid  to  the  very  last 
farthing,  I  hope  our  friends  will  be  satisfied,  and  that 
when  I  am  called  for,  I  may  lay  down  my  bones  to  rest 
in  peace.  In  the  mean  time  I  keep  up  my  health  and 
spirits,  and  prepare,  myself  to  meet  whatever  may  be 
destined  for  me,  with  a  conscience  clear  of  offense,  and 
with  increased  affection  to  those  long-tried  friends  who 
have  accompanied  me  in  prosperity  as  well  as  adversity." 

The  sanguine  expectations  of  Mr.  Roscoe  were,  through 
untoward  circumstances,  not  to  be  realized,  although  the 
devotion  of  mind  and  heart,  and  the  wearing  toil  which  he 
devoted  to  the  task,  were  almost  overpowering. 

During  this  period  of  extreme  anxiety  he  wrote  the 
following  sonnet : 

"  I  wake,  and  lo  !  the  morning's  earliest  gleam 
Salutes  my  eyes.    What  joy  to  many  a  heart 
Its  renovated  lustre  shall  impart ! 

But  not  to  mine ;  for  from  its  brightening  beam 

Gladly  would  I  some  intermission  claim ; 
And,  anxious,  at  its  near  approach 
I  start,  like  one  when  called,  unwilling  to  depart, 

4 


Y4  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Depressed  his  spirit  and  unnerved  his  frame. 

Yes — like  some  wanderer  who  has  lost  his  way, 
In  life's  rude  paths,  I  long  have  gone  astray, 

And  for  the  future  fear.     O  God  of  love ! 
What  this  day  may  bring  forth  is  all  to  me 
Unknown  ;  but  oh !  where'er  my  course  may  be, 

Do  Thou  my  steps  direct,  my  toils  approve." 

These  are  among  the  thousand  proofs  that, 

"  To  be  direct  and  honest  is  safe." 

When  one  told  good  old  Bishop  Latimer,  that  the  cut 
ler  had  cozened  him  by  making  him  pay  twopence  for 
a  knife  not  worth  a  penny,  the  Bishop's  reply  was  : 

"  No,  he  cozened  not  me,  but  his  own  conscience." 

The  arrant  rogue  knew  well  the  value  of  integrity, 
who  said  to  a  man  distinguished  for  his  honesty,  "  I 
would  give  ten  thousand  pounds  for  your  good  name." 
u  Why  so  ?"  demanded  the  honest  man.  "  Because  I 
could  make  twenty  thousand  with  it,"  was  the  reply. 

Do  you  say  it  requires  a  great  deal  of  moral  courage 
and  strength  of  character  to  be  honest  in  a  world  where 
there  are  so  many  villains  1 

Well,  supposing  it  does,  what  then? 

"  In  the  world's  broad  field  of  battle, 

In  the  bivouac  of  life, 
Be  not  like  dumb  driven  cattle, 
Be  a  hero  in  the  strife." 


THE     MERCHANT.  75 

It  was  with  profound  wisdom  that  the  Romans  called 
by  the  same  name  strength  and  virtue.  There  is 
in  effect  no  virtue,  properly  so  called,  without  victory  over 
ourselves ;  and  that  which  costs  us  nothing  is  worth 
nothing.* 

"  Dishonesty  and  trick  in  the  commercial  class  must 
lead  to  dishonesty  and  trick  in  those  who  deal  with  them. 
If  the  seller  employ  stratagem  and  art  to  deceive  the 
buyer,  the  buyer  will  resort  to  stratagem  and  art  in 
self-defense,  until  at  lengjh  the  point  of  honor  will  be,  who 
can  most  successfully  cheat  and  deceive  his  neighbor." 

And  that  worldly -wise  and  heavenly-wise  divine,  Jeremy 
Taylor  says  :  "  In  making  contracts,  use  not  many  words, 
for  all  the  business  of  a  bargain  is  summed  up  in  a  few 
sentences,  and  he  that  speaks  least  means  fairest,  as  hav 
ing  fewer  opportunities  to  deceive." 

"  Lie  not  at  all,  neither  in  a  little  thing  nor  in  a  great, 
neither  in  the  substance  nor  the  circumstance,  neither  in 
word  nor  deed." 

In  fact,  so  vital  a  principle  is  integrity  to  commerce, 
that  it  could  not  long  exist  without  it. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers,  of  Glasgow,  took  a  deep  in 
terest  in  the  mercantile  men  of  that  city,  and  wrote 


*  Ce  fut  avec  tine  profonde  sagesse  que  les  Remains  appelerent  du 
meme  nom  la  force  et  la  vertu.  II  n'y  a  en  effet  point  de  vertu,  pro- 
prement  dite,  sana  viotoire  sur  nous  memes ;  et  tout  ce  qui  ne  nous 
coute  rein,  ne  vaut  rien." — De  Maistre. 


T6  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

many  able  and  excellent  things  for  their  special  benefit. 
The  Scotch  are  proverbially  an  honest  people,  and  it  was 
among  them  that  he  penned  the  following  beautiful  com 
pliment  to  mercantile  integrity. 

"  It  might  tempt  one  to  be  proud  of  his  species,  when 
he  looks  upon  the  faith  reposed  in  a  merchant  by  a  dis 
tant  correspondent,  who,  without  one  other  hold  on  him 
than  his  honor,  confides  to  him  the  wealth  of  a  whole  flo 
tilla,  and  sleeps  in  the  confidence  that  it  is  safe.  It  is 
indeed  an  animating  thought,  amid  the  gloom  of  a  world's 
depravity,  when  we  behold  the  credit  which  one  man 
puts  in  another,  though  separated  by  seas  and  by  conti 
nents  ;  when  he  fixes  the  anchor  of  a  sure  and  steady 
dependence  on  the  reputed  faith  of  one  whom  he  never 
saw ;  when  with  all  his  fear  for  the  treachery  of  the  va 
rious  elements  through  which  his  property  must  pass,  he 
knows,  that  should  it  arrive  at  the  door  of  his  agent,  his 
fears  and  his  suspicions  must  be  at  an  end.  We  know 
nothing  finer  than  such  an  act  of  homage  from  one  being 
to  another,  when  perhaps  the  diameter  of  the  globe  is  be 
tween  them  ;  nor  do  we  think  that  either  the  renown  of 
her  victories  or  the  wisdom  of  her  councils  so  signalizes 
the  country  in  which  we  live,  as  do  the  honorable  deal 
ings  of  her  merchants,  or  the  awarded  confidence  of  those 
men  of  all  tribes,  and  colors,  and  languages,  who  look  to 
our  agency  for  the  most  faithful  of  all  managements,  and 
to  our  keeping  for  the  most  inviolable  of  all  custody." 


THE    MERCHANT.  77 

Far  from  us  be  that  direful  day,  when  our  country 
shall  be  less  noted  for  its  honorable  merchants,  than  for 
its  valiant  warriors ! 

Even  should  the  night  of  adversity  fall  dark  and  heavy 
around  you,  young  man,  why  should  you  quail  ?  Can 
you  but  say,  as  did  Francis  I.  to  his  mother,  after  a  bat 
tle,  "  All  is  lost  but  honor,"  you  need  not  be  dismayed. 
The  tide  of  prosperity  may  have  ebbed,  and  left  you 
awhile  stranded  upon  the  shore ;  the  next  change  of 
the  tide  you  may  ride  triumphantly  upon  the  top  of  the 
wave  ;  the  integrity,  which  has  hitherto  been  your  guide, 
will  not  desert  you  in  the  hour  of  peril ;  she  will  still  be 
at  the  helm  and  direct  you  to  the  haven  where  you 
would  be.* 

"  There  is  no  being  in  the  world  for  whom  I  feel  a 
higher  moral  respect  and  admiration  than  for  the  upright 


*  "A  man  who  has  any  feeling  of  honor  would  rather  die  outright 
than  become  a  bankrupt ;  and  any  reasonable  sacrifice  he  would  wil 
lingly  consent  to.  Misfortune  is  one  thing,  imprudence  another,  and 
knavery  the  climax.  When  a  man  is  unfortunate,  he  is  deservedly  an 
object  of  sympathy.  To  such,  I  would  say,  the  moment  you  find  your 
self  in  embarrassed  circumstances,  and  perceive  that  you  cannot  extri 
cate  yourself,  without  speculating  with  what  does  not  belong  to  you, 
call  a  private  meeting  of  your  creditors,  and  lay  before  them  the  entire 
state  of  your  affairs.  Make  a  proposition  of  what  you  are  able  to  pay, 
towards  a  liquidation  of  their  claims,  and  trust  to  their  generosity  to 
accept  it.  You  will  then  be  taken  by  the  hand  by  your  creditors — 
get  a  release,  and  perhaps,  with  their  kind  assistance  and  advice,  be 
come  a  better  man  of  business  than  ever  you  were — but  keep  nothiny 
back." — Foster. 


T8  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

man  of  business ;  no,  not  for  the  philanthropist,  the  mis 
sionary,  or  the  martyr.  I  feel  that  I  could  more  easily 
be  a  martyr,  than  a  man  of  that  lofty  moral  uprightness. 
And  let  me  say  yet  more  distinctly,  that  it  is  not  for  the 
generous  man  that  I  feel  this  kind  of  respect — that 
seems  to  me  a  lower  quality — a  mere  impulse,  compared 
with  the  virtues  I  speak  of.  It  is  not  for  the  man  who 
distributes  extensive  charities,  who  bestows  magnificent 
donations.  That  may  be  all  very  well — I  speak  not  to 
disparage  it — I  wish  there  were  more  of  it ;  and  yet  it 
may  all  consist  with  a  want  of  the  true  unbending  up 
rightness.  That  is  not  the  man,  then,  of  whom  I  speak  ; 
but  it  is  he  who  stands,  amid  all  the  swaying  interests 
and  perilous  exigencies  of  trade,  firm,  calm,  disinterested, 
and  upright.  It  is  the  man  who  can  see  another  man's 
interests  just  as  clearly  as  his  own.  It  is  the  man  whose 
mind  his  own  advantage  does  not  blind  nor  cloud  for  an 
instant ;  who  could  sit  a  judge,  upon  a  question  between 
himself  and  his  neighbor,  just  as  safely  as  the  purest 
magistrate  upon  the  bench  of  justice.  Ah  !  how  much 
richer  than  ermine,  how  far  nobler  than  the  train  of 
magisterial  authority,  how  more  awful  than  the  guarded 
bench  of  majesty,  is  that  simple,  magnanimous,  and  ma 
jestic  truth !  Yes  ;  it  is  the  man  who  is  true — true  to 
himself,  to  his  neighbor,  and  to  his  God — true  to  the 
right — true  to  his  conscience — and  who  feels  that  the 


THE    MERCHANT.  79 

slightest  suggestion  of  that  conscience,  is  more  to  him 
than  the  chance  of  acquiring  a  thousand  estates." 

Riches  are  seldom  permanent  when  acquired  by  dis 
honest  means  ;  there  are  in  all  languages  proverbs  to  this 
effect,  proving  that  the  common  sense  of  mankind  has 
verified  it — "  Ill-gotten  wealth  is  soon  spent."* 

*  "  Bien  mal  acquis  ne  profile  quire.  Maleparta  male  dilabuntur. 
Ce  proverbe  est  de  toutes  les  langues,  est  de  toutes  les  styles.  Pla- 
ton  1'a  dit ;  c'est  la  vertu  qui  produit  les  richesses,  comme  elle  produit 
tous  les  autre  biens,  tant  publics  que  particuliers." — De  Maistre. 


CHAPTER    SEVENTH. 

INDUSTRY. 


"  To  the  diligent,  labor  bringeth  blessing  : 
The  thought  of  duty  sweeteneth  toil,  and  travail  is  as  pleasure  : 
Labor  is  good  for  a  man,  bracing  up  his  energies  to  conquest, 
And  without  it  life  is  dull,  the  man  perceiving  himself  useless. "—  Tapper. 

"  From  the  fire  and  the  water  we  drive  out  the  steam, 
With  a  rash  and  a  roar,  and  the  speed  of  a  dream/'— Elizabeth  Barrett. 

•Even  the  indolent  profess  to  yawn  up  their  adoration  at  the  altar  of  activity."— Mudie. 


FRANKLIN,  when  writing  home  from  Europe  to  the 
colonists,  before  the  Revolution,  told  them  they  must 
"  light  up  the  candles  of  industry  and  economy."  A 
homely  figure,  but,  in  truth,  without  the  blended  light 
of  these  two  virtues,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  the 
"  way  to  wealth." 

Industry,  say  you,  is  a  virtue  to  be  sure,  but  not  at 
all  congenial  with  the  hilarity  and  joyfulness  of  life's 
holiday  period,  youth  and  early  manhood. 

A  modern  French  philosopher  announces  it  as  a  grand 
discovery,  that  the  whole  science  of  happiness  is  com 
prehended  in  one  single  word — occupation.  No  new 


THE    MERCHANT.  81 

discovery  this.  The  wisdom  of  ages  is  condensed  into 
proverbs,  and  many  there  are,  which  announce  the  same 
truth.  "  The  idle  man's  head  is  the  devil's  workshop." 
"  The  devil  tempts  every  man,  but  the  idle  man  tempts 
the  devil  himself."  "  Idleness  is  the  mother  of  pov 
erty."  "Idleness  clothes  a  man  in  rags."  Crime, 
want  and  misery,  thus  dog  the  way  of  the  indolent. 

But  suppose  you  could  "  dig"  gold  enough  in  the 
course  of  a  single  month  to  enable  you  to  "  fare  sumptu 
ously  every  day,"  through  a  long  life  of  idleness.  The 
restlessness,  the  satiety,  the  ennui  of  such  a  life,  would 
render  you  more  unhappy  than  does  the  unremitted  toil 
of  the  man  who  earns  his  daily  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his 
brow. 

Pleasure  is  in  the  race,  not  at  the  goal  alone.  Suc 
cess  is  the  reward  of  exertion,  yet  we  play  the  game  of 
life  (serious  play  !)  as  we  do  the  game  of  chess — for  con 
quest  ;  the  pleasure  is  in  the  contest,  the  strife,  by  which 
the  victory  is  obtained. 

Men  woo  Fortune,  and  the  pleasure  is  in  "  the  wooing 
on't — the  wooing  on't."  The  fruit  that  drops  from  the 
tree  into  the  lap  of  the  school-boy,  is  not  half  so  sweet 
as  that  for  which  he  climbs  to  the  topmost  bough. 

Regular,  systematic  industry  has  proved  to  many  a 
young  merchant  not  only  a  safeguard  from  temptations  to 
vice,  but  the  cheering  friend  who  led  the  way  to  ultimate 
success 

4* 


82  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

William  Gray,  one  of  the  most  successful  of  American 
merchants,  was  remarkable  for  industry — indeed  it  was 
to  him  the  cap  of  Fortunatus. 

"  Young  Gray,"  says  the  biographer,  "  was  an  enter 
prising  and  indefatigable  apprentice,  and  had  acquired 
the  confidence  of  the  principal  merchants  in  Salem  when 
he  commenced  business  for  himself,  which,  in  that  care 
ful  and  industrious  town,  was  a  fine  capital  to  begin 
upon. 

"  Mr.  Gray  was  early  prosperous  in  his  affairs,  and 
in  less  than  twenty-five  years  after  he  commenced  busi 
ness,  was  considered  and  taxed  as  the  wealthiest  man  in 
the  place,  where  there  were  several  of  the  largest  for 
tunes  that  could  be  found  in  the  United  States.  For 
more  than  fifty  years  of  his  life  he  rose  at  the  dawn  of 
day,  and  was  shaved  and  dressed  before  the  usual  hour 
for  others  to  rise.  Being  dressed,  his  letters  and  papers 
were  spread  before  him,  and  every  part  of  his  correspon 
dence  brought  up." 

Industrious  application  to  business  should  not  prevent 
a  young  man  from  giving  due  attention  to  the  general 
culture  of  the  intellect.  He  has  something  else  to  do  in 
the  world  besides  scraping  together  heaps  of  wealth. 
The  immortal  mind  is  not  meantime  to  be  starved  and 
grovelling.  It  is  a  poor,  a  mean  ambition,  to  aim  alone 
at  the  possession  of  millions,  without  the  power  of  enjoy 
ing  them  induced  by  cultivating  the  taste,  the  mind,  and 


THE     MERCHANT.  83 

the  heart.     Industry  is  as  requisite  for  this  purpose,  as 
for  that  of  accumulation. 

Idlers !  They  are  the  pest  of  a  commonwealth. 
Would  that  our  government  would  appoint  public  offi 
cers  to  take  cognizance  of  all  the  "  loafers,"  and  bring 
them  to  punishment,  as  did  the  Areopagus  at  Athens  in 
the  days  of  Solon.  Those  officers  inquired  after  the 
ways  and  means  of  every  man  in  the  republic,  and  if 
the  vagabonds  whom  they  spied  out,  could  give  no  account 
of  their  mode  of  procuring  a  living,  they  were  sentenced 
to  condign  punishment. 

Solon  wisely  reasoned,  that  those  men  who  used  no 
lawful  means  for  procuring  a  livelihood,  must  subsist  by 
dishonest  and  unlawful  means,  and  in  time  such  a  set  of 
gamblers,  speculators  and  knaves  would  spring  up  as  to 
corrupt,  and,  eventually,  destroy  a  republic ; — restless, 
dangerous,  turbulent  spirits,  who  will  band  together  and 
break  through  the  cobwebs  of  the  law  as  readily  as  the 
rich  and  powerful. 

And  these  "  loafers,"  forsooth,  call  themselves  "  gen 
tlemen"  in  our  country,  and  make  their  boast  that  they 
have  nothing  to  do — as  if  do-nothingness  were  the  lead 
ing  characteristic  of  a  gentleman. 

Well  has  a  distinguished  Christian  moralist  said : 
"  The  charter  of  our  privileges  is  our  national  character  ; 
let  this  character  fail  in  the  great  trial  which  it  is  pass 
ing  through ;  let  luxury  and  excess  grow  in  our  cities ; 


84  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

let  vice  stalk  abroad  fearlessly  in  our  villages  ;  let  our 
hardy  yeomanry  become  indolent,  inefficient,  bankrupt 
in  property,  and  more  bankrupt  in  spirit ;  let  our  noble 
youths  lose  the  principles  of  a  virtuous  education,  and 
vie  with  each  other  in  extravagance  and  revelling,  and 
farewell  to  the  dignity  and  joy  of  freedom  !  Though  the 
semblance  remain  awhile^  the  spirit  will  be  fled  for  ever." 


GIRARD  COLLEGE,   PHILADELPHIA. 


CHAPTER     EIGHTH. 

ECONOMY. 

"  Care  preserves  what  Industry    gains.    He  who  attends  to  his  business  diligently 
bnt  not  carefully,  throws  away  with  one  hand  what  he  gathers  with  the  other." 

Do  not  understand  economy  to  be  a  mean,  selfish  prin 
ciple;  it  is  far  removed  from  avarice  or  stinginess. 
Stinginess !  What  concentrated  meanness  there  is  in 
the  very  sound  of  that  word  ! 

The  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  once  wanted  to 
complete  a  work  that  would  be  a  great  public  benefit. 
The  person  who  had  offered  the  subscription  paper  until 
the  requisite  sum  was  all  secured  excepting  the  ten  thou 
sand,  was  advised  to  call  upon  a  distinguished  merchant, 
well  known  for  his  closeness  in  making  a  bargain. 

"  No ;  I  shall  not  offer  the  paper  to  him,"  said  he, 
"  for  he  is  proverbially  stingy." 

"You  are  mistaken,"  was  the  reply;  "he  is  a  rigid 
economist  with  regard  to  his  own  personal  expenditures, 
in  order  that  he  may  be  able  to  be  liberal  on  a  large 
scale.  Go  to  him  by  all  means." 


86  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

The  advice  was  taken,  and  the  ready  subscription  of 
ten  thousand  dollars  was  the  consequence.  "No,  not 
stingy,  but  wisely  economical,"  thought  the  applicant, 
as  he  pocketed  the  money. 

There  is  such  a  thing,  then,  as  a  generous  economy. 
The  merchant  who  is  careful  and  shrewd  in  making  a 
bargain,  and  demands  the  exact  payment  of  his  just 
dues,  is  much  more  likely  to  be  liberal  as  a  public  bene 
factor,  than  he  who  is  reckless  about  his  own  expendi 
tures,  and  careless  about  collecting  or  demanding  what 
is  due  to  himself. 

A  large  fortune  may  be  compared  to  a  pond,  which, 
by  continual  draughts,  may  be  exhausted,  but  industry  is 
a  perennial  fountain,  to  which  economy  serves  as  a  strong 
embankment. 

Others,  beside  the  cynic  who  lived  in  a  tub,  from-which 
it  seems  he  occasionally  emerged,  with  a  lantern,  by 
daylight,  to  find  an  honest  man ;  others,  have  resolved 
never  to  be  rich,  but  with  economy  to  live  on  moderate 
means,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  generous. 

Joseph  May,  of  Boston,  after  having  failed  in  conse 
quence  of  an  ill-advised  speculation,  resolved  never  to  be 
a  rich  man. 

"  He  regarded  the  gift  of  property  to  children  as  a 
very  questionable  one,  and  wisely  said  that  every  man 
should  stand  on  his  own  feet,  rely  upon  his  own  resources, 
know  how  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  supply  his  own 


THE    MERCHANT.  87 

wants."  He  adds  further :  "  That  parent  does  his 
child  no  good  who  takes  from  him  the  inducement,  nay, 
the  necessity  to  do  so." 

But  because  Joseph  May  had  resolved  not  to  be  rich, 
was  he  therefore  idle  1  By  no  means.  For  more  than 
forty  years  he  held  a  place  in  an  insurance  office,  which 
gave  him  a  competence  for  his  family.  When  free  from 
the  duties  of  the  office  he  found  enough  to  do. 

He  read  one  or  two  hours  in  the  morning,  and  as  much 
in  the  evening.  He  was  fond  of  the  old  English  classics 
and  the  best  historians  ;  Paley  and  other  moral  writers, 
and  of  a  Political  Economy." 

"  He  utterly  despised  avarice,"  but  unless  he  had 
been  a  systematic  economist  both  of  money  and  time,  he 
never  could  have  accomplished  the  vast  amount  of  good 
which  he^ actually  did. 

"  He  was  not  able  to  bestow  large  donations  on  public 
institutions,  but  he  was  a  valuable  friend,  promoter,  and 
director  of  them.  His  private  charities  are  not  to  be 
numbered.  Without  much  trouble  he  might  be  traced 
through  every  quarter  of  the  city  by  the  footprints  of 
his  benefactions.  Pensioners  came  to  his  door  as  they 
do  in  some  countries  to  the  gate  of  a  convent.  The 
worthy  poor  found  in  him  a  friend,  and  the  unworthy  he 
tried  to  reform. 

"  He  suggested  to  those  who  were  on  the  verge  of 
poverty,  principles  s  f  economy  and  kinds  of  labor,  by 


88  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

which  they  were  enabled  to  put  themselves  into  a  com 
fortable  estate.  His  aid  to  those  in  distress  and  need 
was  in  many  cases  not  merely  temporary  and  limited  to 
single  applications,  but  as  extensive  as  the  life  and  future 
course  of  its  object. 

"  He  seemed  to  live  by  the  good  emperor's  maxim, 
never  to  leave  any  interval  between  one  benevolent  act 
and  another." 

Joseph  May  thus  exhibited,  in  a  beautiful  way,  Indus 
try,  Economy,  and  Benevolence,  as  sister  graces.  He 
had  his  enjoyment  of  life  all  the  way  along,  but  in  a 
very  different  manner  from  Stephen  Girard,  of  Phila 
delphia. 

Stephen  commenced  life  where  most  wealthy  men  in 
our  country  begin,  namely,  at  the  very  bottom  of  the 
hill.  He  came  to  this  country  from  France  as* a  cabin- 
boy,  when  only  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,  without  edu 
cation,  excepting  a  limited  acquaintance  with  the  elements 
of  reading  and  writing.  He  was  willing  to  perform  any 
labor,  however  humble  and  arduous,  by  which  money 
could  be  obtained,  for  he  had  determined  to  be  rich. 
With  this  resolution  as  firmly  fixed  as  our  own  Mount 
Washington,  he  went  to  work  in  fierce  good  earnest — 
Industry  his  right  hand,  and  Economy  the  left. 

What  says  one  of  his  biographers  1 

"  He  adopted  that  system  of  business  which  would 
most  effectually  ensure  that  result,  (to  be  rich  ;)  making 


THE    MERCHANT.  89 

it  a  fixed  principle  to  practice  the  most  rigid  economy ; 
to  shut  his  heart  against  all  the  blandishments  of  life ;  to 
stand  to  the  last  farthing,  if  that  farthing  were  his  due ; 
to  bar  out  all  those  impulses  which  might  for  small  ob 
jects  take  money  from  his  purse  ;  to  plead  the  statute  of 
limitations  against  a  just  claim,  because  he  had  a  right 
to  do  so  by  the  law ;  to  use  men  as  mere  tools  to  accom 
plish  his  purposes  ;  to  pay  only  what  he  had  contracted 
to  pay  to  his  long-tried  and  faithful  cashier,  who  had 
been  the  cause  of  much  of  his  good  fortune,  and  when  he 
died  in  his  service,  to  manifest  the  most  hardened  and 
unnatural  indifference  to  his  death,  without  making  the 
least  provision  for  his  family." 

"  The  desire  of  wealth,  as  the  means  of  influence,  was 
the  master-spirit  which  conquered  the  soul  of  Stephen 
Girard,  and  paralyzed  all  other  feelings ;  and  it  had 
grown  to  such  strength  that  sympathy  for  his  kind  seldom 
enlivened  the  solitude  of  his  heart."* 

"  Drive  thy  business,  or  it  will  drive  thee,"  says 
Franklin's  Poor  Richard,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  Gi- 
rard's  motto.  "  Up  before  the  morning  lark,  he  soundly 
berated  his  own  workmen  who  permitted  him  to  gain  the 
precedence  in  time ;  his  life  was  one  of  unceasing  labor, 

*  "  Hunt's  Merchant's  Magazine,"  one  of  the  most  able  and  useful 
periodicals  in  the  United  States  ;  to  the  pages  of  which  we  are  largely 
indebted.  This  valuable  magazine  should  be  taken  by  every  merchant 
in  our  country. 


90  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

which  allowed  but  little  relaxation,  excepting  that  which 
was  required  by  nature." 

"  He  constantly  wore  an  old  coat,  cut  in  the  French 
style,  and  remarkable  only  for  its  antiquity ;  generally 
preserving  the  same  garment  in  constant  use  for  four  and 
five  years.  Nor  did  he  maintain  a  costly  equipage.  An 
old  chair,  or  chaise,  distinguished  chiefly  for  its  rickety 
construction  as  well  as  its  age,  drawn  by  an  indifferent 
horse,  suited  to  such  a  vehicle,  was  used  in  his  daily 
journey  to  the  Neck,  where  lay  his  farm,  to  the  laborious 
cultivation  of  which  he  devoted  the  greater  portion  of  hi£ 
leisure  time. 

a  But  even  here,  where  it  might  have  been  supposed 
that  he  would  exercise  the  ordinary  rites  of  hospitality, 
no  friend  was  welcomed  with  a  warm  feeling.  In  one 
instance  an  acquaintance  was  invited  to  witness  his  im 
provements,  and  was  shown  to  a  strawberry-bed,  which 
had  been,  in  the  greater  part,  gleaned  of  its  contents, 
and  told  that  he  might  gather  the  fruit  in  that  bed ; 
when  the  owner  took  leave,  stating  that  he  must  go  to 
work  in  a  neighboring  bed.  The  acquaintance  finding 
that  this  tract  had  been  nearly  stripped  of  its  fruit  by 
his  predecessors,  soon  strayed  to  another  tract,  which 
appeared  to  bear  more  abundantly,  when  he  was  accosted 
by  Mr.  Girard — '  I  told  you,'  said  he,  i  that  you  might 
gather  strawberries  only  in  that  bed.'  Such  was  his 
hospitality." 


THE     MERCHANT.  91 

The  results  of  his  industry,  and  the  economy  which 
seemed  at  the  time  so  niggardly,  may  be  seen  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  those  beautiful  dwelling-houses — row  after 
row — but  more  than  all,  in  that  magnificent  marble  edi 
fice,  Girard  College. 

Who  knows  how  many  years  this  mysterious  man — 

"  The  stoic  of  the  mart,  a  man  without  a  tear" — 

who  knows  how  many  anxious  years  he  employed  in  plan 
ning  and  preparing  this  college  for  destitute  orphans? 
It  might  have  been  in  view  of  his  own  desolate  condition, 
when  cast,  a  friendless  orphan,  among  strangers  and 
foreigners,  that  he  devised  this  splendid  charity  for  poor, 
forlorn,  fatherless  children. 

INDUSTRY  and  ECONOMY  might  have  been  the  appro 
priate  inscription  upon  the  marble  portico,  beneath  which 
stands  the  statue  of  Stephen  Girard. 

Mr.  Philip  Hone,  of  New  York,  relates  the  following 
anecdote : 

"  Several  years  since,  a  merchant  in  the  Dutch  trade, 
who  had  been  a  resident  in  New  York  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  had  in  his  possession  a  silk  umbrella  of  uncom 
monly  large  proportions,  which  attracted  the  notice  of  a 
friend  in  company,  who  said  to  him  in  jest — 

"  i  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear,  that  you  brought 
out  that  umbrella  with  you  from  Holland.' 

" £  You  have  guessed  right,'  replied  the  Dutchman ; 


92  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

c  I  did  bring  it  when  I  came  to  this  country,  and  have 
had  it  in  constant  use  ever  since ;  but  I  have  sent  it  once 
during  the  time  to  Holland,  to  be  newly  covered.' 

"  Now  this  gentleman  was  liberal  and  charitable," 
adds  Mr.  Hone,  "  but  he  took  good  care  of  his  umbrella, 
and  died  worth  a  million  of  dollars." 

The  fact  is,  as  a  people,  we  do  not  practice  economy 
as  constantly  and  as  systematically  as  do  many  other 
nations. 

The  economy  of  the  Frenchman  who  wraps  the  remain 
ing  morsels  of  sugar  in  a  piece  of  paper,  and  takes 
them  away  in  his  pocket  from  the  cafe,  seems  quite 
ridiculous,  but  Monsieur  carries  this  minute  economy  into 
all  the  details  of  daily  life,  and  is  thus  able  to  live  a 
whole  year  on  a  sum  which  would  not  suffice  for  more 
than  a  single  month  for  a  fashionable  young  merchant  in 
one  of  our  larger  cities. 

"  Thrift  is  the  best  means  of  thriving.  This  is  one 
of  the  truths  which  force  themselves  upon  the  under 
standing  of  very  early  ages,  when  it  is  almost  the  only 
means.  Hence,  there  is  no  lack  of  such  sayings  as, 4  A 
pin  a  day  is  a  groat  a  year.'  c  Take  care  of  the  pence 
and  the  pounds  will  take  care  of  themselves.'  Perhaps 
the  former  of  these  saws,  which  bears  such  strongly 
marked  features  of  homelier  times,  may  be  out  of  date  in 
these  days  of  inordinate  gains  and  still  more  inordinate 
desires ;  when  it  seems  as  if  nobody  could  be  satisfied 


THE    MERCHANT.  93 

until  he  has  dug  up  the  earth,  and  drunk  up  the  sea,  and 
outgalloped  the  sun. 

"  Many  now  are  so  insensible  to  the  inestimable  value 
of  a  regular  increase,  however  slow,  that  they  would 
probably  cry  out  scornfully,  £  A  fig  for  your  groat ! 
Would  you  have  me  at  the  trouble  of  picking  up  and 
laying  by  a  pin  a  day,  for  the  sake  of  being  a  groat  the 
richer  at  the  end  of  the  year  V  Still,  both  these  max 
ims,  taken  in  their  true  spirit,  are  admirable  prudential 
rules  for  the  whole  of  our  pecuniary  affairs  through  life. 

"  Nor  is  their  usefulness  limited  to  the  purse.  That 
still  more  valuable  portion  of  our  property,  our  time, 
stands  equally  in  need  of  good  husbandry.  It  is  only  by 
making  much  of  our  hours  and  minutes,  that  we  can  make 
much  of  our  days  and  years."* 

*  Note  B. 


CHAPTER    NINTH. 

PERSEVERANCE, 

"  Do  not,  for  one  repulse,  forego  the  purpose 
That  you  resolved  to  effect." — Shakspeare. 
"  Joy's  soul  lies  in  the  doing." 

A  WEAK  spirit  will  be  crushed  by  the  same  misfor 
tunes  which  would  rouse  a  strong  one  to  exertion.  The 
same  storm  which  fixes  more  firmly  the  giant  oak,  roots 
up  the  tender  sapling. 

Stroke  after  stroke,  fells  that 

Unwedgeable  and  gnarled  oak" — 

effort  after  effort  overcomes  a  gnarled,  ungracious  for 
tune. 

Bonaparte  once  said  :  "  I  have  no  idea  of  a  merchant's 
acquiring  a  fortune  as  a  general  wins  a  battle — at  a  sin 
gle  blow." 

This  slap-dash  way  of  acquiring  a  fortune  has  been 
ruinous  to  very  many  young  merchants.  They  covet 
Aladdin's  lamp ;  with  one  smart  rub  they  would  sum 
mon  the  genii,  and  obtain  countless  treasures. 


THE    MERCHANT.  95 

Disappointed  in  their  sanguine  expectations,  and  per 
haps  utterly  ruined  and  bankrupt,  instead  of  beginning 
again  in  a  moderate  way,  with  experience  for  their  guide, 
they  have  either  entirely  forsaken  mercantile  affairs,  or 
struck  another  "  blow"  so  violent  that  the  rebound  has 
crushed  them  to  the  earth. 

To  know  how  to  wait,  is  the  great  means  of  success,* 
says  a  modern  French  writer ;  to  know  how  to  persevere 
is  the  surest  means  of  success  in  any  undertaking,  and 
this  involves  patient  waiting. 

Perseverance  is  like  a  taste  for  olives  where  they  are 
not  indigenous ;  it  is  not  a  natural  gift  like  genius,  it  is 
an  acquirement.  True,  some  persons  more  easily  con 
tinue  steadfast  in  a  career  than  others,  but  after  all,  any 
body  can  persevere  if  they  only  will. 

When  the  boy  takes  his  gun  and  goes  out  in  the  morn 
ing  to  shoot  birds,  he  resolves  not  to  go  home  with  his 
game-bag  empty.  Miles  a,nd  "  mileses,"  as  Hood  says, 
he  tramps  over  field  and  ford,  mud  and  mire,  through 
the  bushes,  over  hedges  and  stone  walls,  tearing  his 
trowsers  and  his  shins ;  bruising  his  hands  and  blister 
ing  his  feet — and  all  for  what  purpose  ?  Success. 

"  All  things  that  are, 

Are  with  more  spirit  chased  than  enjoyed." 
"  Men  prize  the  thing  ungained,  more  than  it  is." 

Ah !  but  there  are  more  dragons  in  the  way  to  mer- 

*  "  Savoir  attendre,  est  Ic  grand  moyen  de  parvemr." — De  Maistre. 


96  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

cantile  success,  and  fiercer  ones  than  guarded  the  golden 
apples  of  the  Hesperides. 

"  Fight  them  and  the  cravens  flee,  thy  boldness  is  their  panic ; 
Fear  them,  and  thy  treacherous  heart  hath  lent  the  ranks  a  legion." 

Stephen  Girard,  at  the  age  of  forty,  commanded  his 
own  sloop,  engaged  in  the  coasting-trade  between  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  New  Orleans.  He  had  taken 
many  steps  on  the  ladder  of  Fortune  since  he  was  a  cab 
in-boy  not  worth  a  shilling — but  look  at  his  perseverance 
in  mounting  that  ladder,  step  by  step,  till  he  was  worth 
seven  or  eight  millions  of  dollars  ! 

The  following  anecdote  of  an  oriental  sovereign  is 
given  by  Malcolm  in  his  History  of  Persia  : 

"  There  was  no  feature  more  remarkable  in  the  char 
acter  of  Timour,  than  his  extraordinary  perseverance. 
No  difficulties  ever  led  him  to  recede  from  what  he  had 
undertaken,  and  he  often  persisted  in  his  efforts,  under 
circumstances  that  led  all  around  him  to  despair.  He 
used,  on  such  occasions,  to  relate  to  his  friends  an  anec 
dote  of  his  early  life. 

"  £  I  once,'  said  he,  ( was  forced  to  take  shelter  from 
my  enemies  in  a  ruined  building,  where  I  sat  alone  many 
hours.  Desiring  to  divert  my  mind  from  my  hopeless 
condition,  I  fixed  my  observation  on  an  ant  that  was  car 
rying  a  grain  of  corn  larger  than  itself  up  a  high  wall. 
I  numbered  the  efforts  it  made  to  accomplish  this  object. 


THE    MERCHANT.  97 

The  grain  fell  sixty-nine  times  to  the  ground,  but  the 
insect  persevered,  and  the  seventieth  time  it  reached  the 
top  of  the  wall.  This  sight  gave  me  courage  at  the 
moment,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  lesson  it  conveyed.' ' 

This  reminds  us  of  Bruce's  spider,  whose  efforts  were 
nearly  as  numerous  before  the  object  was  accomplished. 

It  is  a  common  notion  among  young  people,  that  every 
thing  must  be  struck  out  at  a  heat ;  that  this  is  the 
way  genius  works.  Genius  is  suggestive,  but  common 
sense  active. 

"  Alas !"  said  a  poor  widow,  the  mother  of  a  bright 
but  reckless  son,  "  alas  !  he  has  not  the  gift  of  continu 
ance." 

This  is  an  attribute  of  the  best  order  of  minds. 
Every  school-boy  knows  "  Perseverantia  vincit  omnia ;" 
at  least,  he  has  fixed  it  indelibly  upon  the  pages  of  his 
copy-book.  Despise  perseverance !  As  well  might  one 
despise  the  act  of  breathing,  because  it  has  to  be  repeated 
and  continued  every  moment.  But  this  is  an  unconscious 
act.  True ;  and  so  may  Perseverance  become,  when  the 
habit  of  accomplishing  what  is  undertaken,  is  once  estab 
lished.  Perseverance  is  a  linked  chain,  which  grapples 
to  the  goal  of  Success  with  hooks  of  steel. 


CHAPTER  TENTH. 

FORESIGHT    AND    PRUDENCE. 


"  Most  men  work  for  the  present,  a  few  for  the  future.    The  wise  work  for  both — for 
the  future  in  the  present,  and  for  the  present  in  the  future." 

Ouesees  at  Truth. 


THERE  is  a  forecasting  of  events,  which,  in  its  effects, 
amounts  almost  to  prescience.  Experience  is  the  teacher, 
who  gives  the  lessons,  often  dear-bought,  which  produce 
this  foreseeing  wisdom. 

Has  a  merchant  failed  in  an  enterprise,  for  which  he 
entertained  sanguine  hopes  of  success,  he  carefully  exam 
ines  into  the  causes  of  failure.  Were  these  ocean,  wind, 
or  fire — elements  against  which  no  human  wisdom  could 
forefend — he  yields  submissively  to  Him  who  holds  the 
waters  "  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand ;"  who  "  rides  upon 
the  whirlwind  and  directs  the  storm." 

But  has  the  failure  been  owing  to  his  own  neglect  of 
some  means  which  he  might  have  used,  and  which  would 
have  insured  success,  he  neglects  them  not  again.  His 
ships  are  strong  from  keel  to  topmast ;  his  captains  hon- 


THE    MERCHANT.  99 

est,  courageous,  and  circumspect ;  his  crews  able-bodied 
and  temperate  ! 

The  news  arrives  from  a  distant  country  of  a  failure  in 
crops ;  he  does  not  wait  to  hear  that  gaunt  Famine  is 
stalking  over  that  land ;  he  sends  immediately  his  ships 
freighted  with  breadstuffs. 

Accustomed  to  look  closely  at  causes  and  conse 
quences,  he  calculates  with  almost  mathematical  cer 
tainty  upon  the  rise  and  fall  of  stocks.  His  less  observant 
neighbors  regard  him  as  an  oracle.  When  he  "  opes  his 
lips"  they  eagerly  listen  for  hints  by  which  they  may 
shape  their  own  course,  in  the  counting-house  and  on 
'Change. 

While  they  thus  have  their  ears  and  eyes  wide  open, 
the  sapient  seer,  who  is  perhaps  withal  somewhat  selfish, 
keeps  his  tongue  buttoned  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth,  and 
esteems  it  as  no  more  than  ordinary  prudence. 

Sure  it  is,  that  this  prudence  is  opposed  to  open- 
mouthed  rashness.  Prudence  is  cautionary  and  delib 
erating.  Prudence  consults  about  the  most  suitable 
means  to  accomplish  her  designs.  Her  place  is  at  the 
helm.  When  the  gallant  ship  is  under  full  sail,  and 
with  a  stiff  breeze  careering  over  the  waves,  she  warns, 
"  Beware  of  breakers  ahead !"  and  when  Hope  cries 
"  Land !  land  !"  she  says,  "  Beware  of  a  lee-lurch !" 
Even  when  the  destined  port  is  in  view,  she  whispers, 
"  Look  out  for  shoals  or  hidden  rocks  !" 


100  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

He  who  starts  in  life  without  Prudence  at  his  el 
bow,  is 

"  Like  one  who  draws  the  model  of  a  house 
Beyond  his  power  to  build  it ;  who,  half  through, 
Gives  o'er,  and  leaves  his  part  created  cost 
A  naked  subject  to  the  weeping  clouds, 
And  waste  for  churlish  winter's  tyranny." 

But  when  Prudence  jogs  the  elbow,  she  says — 

"  When  we  mean  to  build, 
We  first  survey  the  plot,  then  draw  the  model, 
And  when  we  see  the  figure  of  the  house, 
Then  must  we  rate  the  cost  of  the  erection  ; 
Which,  if  we  find  outweighs  ability, 
What  do  we  then,  but  draw  anew  the  model  ?" 

The  rashness  of  speculation,  which  has  been  the  cause 
of  ruin  to  so  many,  is  most  earnestly  to  be  deprecated. 
There  is  a  wonderful  propensity  among  mankind  to  be 
lieve  in  what  is  called  "  luck" — good  luck  or  bad  luck. 

"  Oh,  I  am  a  lucky  fellow  !"  says  one — "  I  can  ven 
ture  upon  this  speculation,  though  it  would  be  presump 
tuous  for  some  unlucky  dog  to  do  so." 

Absurd  notion !  Will  men  never  learn  that  causes 
and  effects  are  indissolubly  joined  together,  and  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance  ? 

It  would  seem  not.  He  who  trusts  to  luck  and  fails, 
tries  again ;  this  time  he  succeeds ;  why,  he  does  not 
inquire,  but  thanks  his  good  fortune.  Not  very  rev- 


THE    MERCHANT.  101 

erently,  to  be  sure ;  for  how  is  that  to  be  expected  of  an 
idolater  of  blind  chance  ?  but  nevertheless,  he  worships 
at  her  shrine  ;  and  because  she  has,  as  he  supposes,  once 
smiled  upon  him,  he  looks  again  for  her  favors,  and  with 
out  the  slightest  calculation  rushes  into  new  experi 
ments. 

They  are  unsuccessful — his  luck  has  turned.  Poor, 
foolish  one !  Happy  will  it  be  for  him,  if  he  learn, 
before  his  head  whiten  with  age  and  misfortune,  that 
"the  plague-spot  of  human  life"  is  this  trusting  to 
"  luck." 

"No  divinity  was  adored  by  the  Romans,"  says 
Michelet,  "  under  more  names  than  Fortune — that  god, 
whoever  he  be,  that  causes  success." 

But  a  nobler  and  wiser  than  the  Romans,  or  the 
Frenchman,  says — 

"  There's  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  will." 

With  this  confidence  in  a  superintending  Providence, 
take  your  circumstances  as  they  are,  and  make  the 
best  of  them.  Goethe  has  changed  the  postulate  of  Ar 
chimedes — Give  me  a  standing-place  and  I  will  move 
the  world — into  the  precept — Make  good  thy  standing- 
place  and  move  the  world.  So  was  it  that  Luther  moved 
the  world,  not  by  waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity, 
but  by  doing  his  daily  work.  We  ought  not  to  linger  in 
inaction  till  Blucher  comes  up,  but  the  moment  we  catch 


102  SUCCESS    IN   LIFE. 

sight  of  him  in  the  distance,  to  rise  and  charge.  Her 
cules  must  go  to  Atlas,  and  take  his  load  off  his  shoulders 
perforce. 

The  want  of  foresight  and  prudence  in  the  management 
of  affairs  may,  in  some  instances,  be  owing  to  the  roman 
tic  expectations  induced  by  novel-reading. 

In  badly  conceived  novels  and  romances,  the  means  to 
produce  a  given  end,  are  so  entirely  inadequate  to  the  re 
sult,  as  often  to  be  ludicrously  impossible ;  yet  minds, 
not  accustomed  to  reason  from  cause  to  consequence,  and 
highly  excited  by  the  bewitching  narrative,  do  not  stop 
to  calculate  probabilities. 

The  brilliant  success  of  the  hero  of  a  favorite  novel, 
excites  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  similar  success. 
Some  unheard-of  old  uncle  is  to  die,  and  leave  his  im 
mense  property  to  the  romantic  young  man — or  some 
fanciful  old  lady  is  to  adopt  him  as  her  protege,  and 
bequeath  him  her  vast  estates ;  or  some  beautiful  and 
rich  young  lady  is  to  be  equally  fascinated  by  his  won 
derful  charms,  and  bestow  upon  him  her  hand  and 
fortune. 

While  he  thus  revels  in  enchanted  bowers,  listening 
to  the  witching  charmer  Imagination,  he  becomes  spell 
bound — incapable  of  action,  and  even  of  a  clear  perception 
of  things  as  they  are.  Nay,  he  learns  to  despise  that 
very  respectable  and  very  useful  quality,  common  sense. 
His  conduct  in  life  proves  that  he  does  so ;  and  not  until 


THE   MERCHANT.  103 

the  castles  which  he  has  built  in  the  air,  after  the  pat 
tern  of  well-known  novels — in  the  genuine  style  roman 
tic  ;  not  till  they  are  effectually  demolished,  will  he  be 
guided  by  plain  Prudence,  whose  faithful  ally  is  Com 
mon  Sense. 


CHAPTER  ELEVENTH. 

ENTERPRISE. 


'  Give  me  a  spirit  that  on  life's  rough  sea, 
Loves  to  have  his  sails  filled  with  a  lusty  wind, 
Even  till  his  sail-yards  tremble,  his  masts  crack, 
And  his  rapt  ship  run  on  her  side  so  low, 
That  she  drinks  water,  and  her  keel  ploughs  air !" — Chapman* 

'  Each  his  own  fortune  pursues  in  the  chase  ; 
How  many  the  rivals,  how  narrow  the  space  f 
But  hurry  and  scurry,  O  mettlesome  game ! 
The  cars  roll  in  thunder,  the  wheels  rush  in  flame!''' — Schiller, 


ENTERPRISE  in  commerce  holds  the  same  rank  as 
courage  in  war.  Enterprise  is  the  spinal  nerve  of  the 
body  commercial. 

"  He  who  is  to  win  the  race  must  not  stop  short  of  the 
goal,  or  go  wide  of  it.  Would  Columbus  have  discov 
ered  America  if  he  had  been  merely  trained  to  fair- 
weather  sailing  Vy 

No,  indeed.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  which  throbbed 
within  his  bosom  would  not  be  repressed.  It  urged  him 
on  to  leave  country,  kindred,  and  the  endearments  of  the 
domestic  circle,  for  what  was  deemed  a  romantic  adven 
ture.  Neither  would  this  spirit  be  daunted  by  the  most 


THE    MERCHANT.  105 

disheartening  checks.  Although  neither  prayers  nor 
eloquent  appeals  can  draw  pecuniary  aid  from  the  obdu 
rate  and  unbelieving,  he  perseveres  in  his  adventurous 
career.  He  tries  one  frail  vessel  after  another,  and  they 
are  wrecked.  Pirates  attack  him,  and  he  escapes.  At 
another  time  his  vessel  is  on  fire ;  he  bears  a  charmed 
life,  and  casts  himself  into  the  sea ;  his  favorite  element, 
as  if  foreseeing  his  triumphs,  bears  him  safely  to  the 
shore.  Neither  fire,  water,  nor  the  sword,  can  vanquish 
his  noble  enthusiasm.  Far  below  this  noble  example  of 
enterprise,  the  less-gifted  men,  in  a  more  humble  way, 
have  shown  the  same  spirit,  yet  their  exploits  serve  for 
encouragement  to  the  bold  and  adventurous  merchant. 

"  Half  the  failures  in  life  arise  from  pulling  in  one's 
horse  as  he  is  leaping." 

When  John  Jacob  Astor  attempted  to  divert  the  fur 
trade  on  the  Northwest  Coast,  from  the  British  to  the 
American  interest,  his  enterprise  was  undoubtedly  con 
sidered  rashness.  Yet  he  went  forward,  undaunted. 
All  the  stock  of  the  Pacific  Fur  Company  chartered  by 
the  Legislature  of  New  York  belonged  to  him,  and  he 
was  the  main-spring  of  all  its  operations.  Think  of  the 
enormous  undertaking  for  a  private  individual,  of  fitting 
out  one  expedition  by  land,  and  another  by  sea,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  River — expeditions  amply  pro 
vided  with  food,  clothing,  military  stores  and  ammuni 
tion,  besides  articles  for  trade  and  barter. 
5* 


106  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Moreover,  it  was  not  gold  that  was  to  be  digged  from 
the  earth  and  sent  to  the  mint  to  be  coined,  for  which 
these  expeditions  were  thus  fitted  out.  Wild  animals, 
the  fierce  and  the  fleet,  still  rejoiced  among  their  native 
haunts,  in  the  furs,  which,  by  a  slow  process,  were  to  be 
transmuted  into  gold.  These  furs,  when  taken,  were 
brought  to  the  coast  by  Indians  and  trappers ;  then  they 
were  sent  by  the  company  to  China,  and  exchanged  for 
teas  and  silks,  which  were  to  be  sent  home  to  New  York. 

The  vast  scope  of  mercantile  vision,  his  foresight,  and 
the  well-known  integrity  of  his  character,  alone  could 
have  induced  belief  in  his  success.  Astoria  will  testify 
to  the  world  and  to  distant  ages  the  enterprise  of  the 
New  York  merchant,  John  Jacob  Astor. 

The  mania  for  speculation,  which  a  few  years  since 
threatened  to  destroy  the  mercantile  interests  and  mer 
cantile  reputation  of  this  country,  has  happily  subsided. 
It  was  thought  that  no  people  on  earth  had  ever  been  so 
rabid  in  their  desire  for  sudden  wealth,  as  the  Ameri 
cans.  But  on  looking  back  a  century  or  less,  we  find 
that  among  other  nations  there  has  been  even  more  of 
rashness  and  folly.  It  is  well  to  review  some  of  these 
wild  speculations,  as  warnings  to  the  young  men  of  the 
present  day,  who,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  many  of 
them  ready  to  embark  in  any  scheme  which  promises 
rapidly  to  fill  their  purses. 

The  famous  Mississippi  scheme,  which  made  nearly 


THE    MERCHANT.  107 

the  whole  of  France  bankrupt,  was  projected  by  John 
Law,  a  Scotchman,  a  notorious  gambler,  who  had  fled 
from  Great  Britain  in  consequence  of  a  duel  in  which  he 
killed  his  antagonist. 

After  some  years  he  returned  to  Scotland,  at  a  time 
when  Great  Britain  was  suffering  deeply  from  commer 
cial  difficulties.  He  offered  to  the  British  Parliament  "  a 
proposal  for  supplying  the  nation  with  money." 

"  Gold  and  silver,"  he  said,  "  must  cease  to  be  the 
medium  of  exchange." 

His  scheme,  at  this  time,  seems  to  have  been  a  paper 
circulation,  based  upon  the  landed  credit  of  Great  Britain. 
The  whole  kingdom  was  to  be  thrown  into  "  a  vast  farm, 
on  the  credit  of  which  certain  commissioners  were  to 
issue  notes,  whose  circulation  was  to  be  enforced  by 
statutes  which  were  to  make  them  the  sole  medium  of 
exchange."  In  this  manner,  gold  and  silver  were  to  be 
driven,  by  Law,  out  of  the  kingdom. 

But  the  House  of  Commons  were  too  sagacious,  or  too 
slow,  to  seize  upon  this  gigantic  speculation  with  avidity, 
and  John  Law  left  in  disgust,  to  seek  a  more  promising 
field  for  his  exploits.  This  he  found  all  ready  for  the 
reaping,  in  France.  Louis  XIV.  had  left  a  kingdom  im 
poverished  by  his  extravagance  and  his  schemes  for  per 
sonal  and  national  aggrandizement. 

In  the  language  of  another,*  "All  industry  (in  France) 

*  Francis  Wharton. 


108  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

had  been  checked,  because  the  poor  man's  wages  were 
insufficient  to  buy  the  necessaries,  whose  price  had  been 
doubled  by  imposts  5  all  manufactures  were  stopped,  be 
cause  the  producer  found  that  the  demand  for  his  staples 
had  ceased ;  and  commerce  was  rapidly  sinking,  because 
the  nation  which  could  not  raise  its  domestic  necessaries, 
could  not  find  money  to  squander  on  foreign  luxury. 
The  fields  and  the  granaries  of  the  kingdom  were  shorn 
and  emptied,  and  were  converted  into  one  great  poor- 
house,  in  which  the  peasantry  collected  themselves  in 
hecatombs  to  expiate  in  a  summary  way  the  crimes  of 
the  great  monarch." 

Mr.  Law  first  opened  a  bank  in  Paris,  which  issued  a 
vast  amount  of  stamped  paper.  A  sudden  stimulus  was 
given  to  the  expiring  commerce  and  manufactures  of 
France — a  kind  of  galvanic  shock,  which  looked  like  life 
and  strength. 

The  king,  Louis  XV.,  took  Mr.  Law's  bank  under 
his  protection,  and  assumed,  as  a  national  debt,  the 
outstanding  notes,  amounting  to  55,000,000  of  livres. 
Soon  after  followed  the  Mississippi  scheme,  a  govern 
ment  measure. 

"  As  a  first  stroke,  the  bank  distributed  two  billions 
of  livres  in  paper,  without  even  the  shadow  of  security, 
excepting  government  credit,  which  at  that  time  was 

'  The  baseless  fabric  of  a  dream.' 


THE    MERCHANT.  109 

The  country  of  Louisiana  was  described  in  exaggerated 
terms,  as  the  most  fertile  spot  in  creation,  and  boundless 
in  extent. 

"  The  map  was  studded  with  gold  mines,  and  the 
speculator  who  glanced  over  the  scheme  that  was  hung 
up  in  the  royal  treasury,  could  no  longer  hesitate  to  ad 
vance  his  capital  on  securities  which  were  safer  than  the 
mint  which  they  were  to  supply.  Two  hundred  thou 
sand  shares,  rated  at  five  hundred  livres  each,  were  at 
once  issued,  and  their  value  immediately  increased  in 
the  most  exorbitant  degree.  They  were  looked  upon 
as  titles  of  unlimited  wealth." 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  now  dotted  with  flour 
ishing  cities,  towns  and  villages,  was  then  mostly  a  tan 
gled  wilderness,  still  the  red-man's  hunting-ground. 

This  valley  was  surveyed  (upon  paper)  into  lots  of  the 
most  fantastic  forms,  and  "  the  diagrams  of  Euclid  were 
exhausted  in  furnishing  patterns  for  the  new  investments. 
A  square  league  in  Louisiana  could  rarely  be  bought  for 
less  than  thirty  thousand  livres,  and  sometimes  the  min- 
ewl  productions  of  particular  neighborhoods  became  so 
highly  extolled,  that  they  rose  to  a  price  much  beyond 
that  of  the  most  cultivated  lands  in  France  itself." 

In  November,  1719,  the  price  of  shares  had  risen  to 
sixty  times  the  sum  of  their  original  cost.  During  this 
month  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  not  less  than 
305,000  strangers  in  Paris — foreigners  from  every  port 


110  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  the  European  world,  drawn  thither  by  the  immense 
gambling  scheme,  then  at  its  height.  Fortunes  were 
made  with  magical  rapidity,  and  immediately  expended 
in  the  most  ridiculous  manner. 

Among  many  anecdotes  illustrative  of  this  fact,  one  is 
given  of  a  Toulouse  tradesman  who  had  made  a  "lucky 
hit."  Elated  beyond  measure  by  his  newly  acquired 
wealth,  he  determined  to  give  a  magnificent  entertain 
ment.  He  went  to  a  goldsmith  to  order  a  complete  ser 
vice  of  plate.  Not  knowing  exactly  what  he  wanted  for 
this  purpose,  and  perhaps  ashamed  to  confess  his  igno 
rance,  he  made  the  goldsmith  an  offer  of  400,000  livres 
for  his  whole  stock  in  trade.  It  was  accepted,  and  the 
plate  sent  home.  A  sumptuous  supper  was  prepared. 
The  tradesman's  wife  superintended  the  arrangement  of 
the  table,  and  examined  with  surprise  the  splendid  but 
incongruous  pieces  of  plate,  the  uses  of  which  were  to  her 
an  enigma.  The  lot,  thus  purchased  in  the  lump,  includ 
ed  a  complete  church  service,  which  had  just  been  finished 
for  a  new  cathedral !  One  of  the  censers  served  on  this 
occasion  for  a  sugar-dish,  and  a  heavy  silver  basin  for 
holy  water,  figured  as  a  soup  tureen. 

Mr.  Law  had  become  the  comptroller-general  of 
France,  and  had  a  seat  in  the  council.  He  had  for  some 
time  supported  the  Mississippi  scheme  by  the  most  per 
nicious  expedients.  Yet  such  was  the  blind  confidence  of 
the  people,  that  he  was  obliged  to  station  a  guard  of  Swiss 


THE    MERCHANT.  Ill 

troopers  in  the  passage  that  led  to  his  antechamber,  to 
keep  off  the  suitors  who  thronged  about  his  door.  Among 
these  suitors  might  be  found  peers  of  France  and  princes 
of  the  royal  blood.  But  the  Mississippi  scheme  fell  with  a 
tremendous  crash,  involving  tens  of  thousands  in  its  fall, 
and  its  inventor,  John  Law,  was  obliged  to  flee  from  a 
vindictive  mob,  who  would  gladly  have  .torn  him  limb 
from  limb.  "  There  was  scarcely  a  breathing- time  be 
tween  his  highest  elevation  and  his  final  ruin."  The 
rage  for  speculation  was  at  this  same  time  equally  fran 
tic  in  England.  In  1*720,  during  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne,  the  great  South  Sea  Bubble,  which  had  for  some 
time  been  expanding,  burst  into  thin  air. 

The  Queen  granted  her  royal  charter  to  "  The  Gover 
nor  and  Company  of  merchants  trayding  to  the  South 
Seas."  The  national  debt  of  Great  Britain,  or  a  goodly 
part  of  it,  formed  the  stock  of  the  company,  amounting 
in  1719  to  $12,000,000  pounds  sterling. 

One  Blunt,  a  scrivener,  played  the  same  high  game  at 
humbug  in  England,  as  Law  had  done  in  France.  There 
certainly  was  at  that  time  throughout  Europe,  among  all 
classes,  a  peculiar  propensity  to  follow  any  cunning  per 
son  who  would  lead  them  by  the  nose.  Some  of  the  no 
bles  of  England  aided  Blunt  in  carrying  out  his  scheme. 
The  South  Seas  were  represented  as  the  inexhaustible 
mine  from  which  wealth  was  to  flow  in  upon  the  fortu 
nate  possessors  of  stock  in  the  company. 


112  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Blunt,  who  had  been  the  prime  mover  of  all  this 
excitement,  was  everywhere  received  with  adulation 
little  short  of  adoration.  "  His  low  birth  was  entirely 
forgotten,  and  the  most  glittering  aristocracy  of  Eng 
land  welcomed  him  with  the  cordiality  which  the  no 
blest  in  Europe  would  have  found  it  impossible  to 
command.  The  title  of  baronet  was  conferred  upon 
him" — Sir  John  Blunt,  a  token  of  approbation  and  royal 
favor. 

The  wonderful  success  of  the  South  Sea  Bubble  led  to 
the  formation  of  all  kinds  of  companies,  and  these  fancy 
stocks  suddenly  rose  to  an  immense  value. 

The  rage  for  speculation  had  become  so  intense,  that 
'Change  Alley,  the  place  in  London  where  these  matters 
were  transacted,  was  crowded  from  morning  till  night 
with  a  dense  mass  of  people,  elbowing  and  jamming  each 
other  as  though  gold  were  worth  more  than  life  itself. 

"  Statesmen  and  clergymen  deserted  their  high  sta 
tions  to  enter  upon  this  grand  theatre  of  speculation  and 
gambling.  Whigs  and  Tories  buried  their  weapons  of 
political  warfare,  discarded  party  animosities,  and  min 
gled  together  in  kind  and  friendly  intercourse  ;  lawyers, 
physicians,  merchants  and  tradesmen  forsook  their  busi 
ness,  and  disregarded  their  engagements,  to  whirl  giddily 
along  with  the  swollen  stream,  to  be  at  last  engulfed  in 
the  wide  sea  of  bankruptcy." 

Females  mixed  with  the  crowd,  and  forgetting  the  sta- 


THE    MERCHANT.  113 

tions  and  employments  which  nature  had  fitted  them  to 
adorn,  dealt  boldly  and  extensively  in  the  bubbles  that 
rose  before  them,  and  like  those  by  whom  they  were  sur 
rounded,  rose  from  poverty  to  wealth,  and  from  that 
were  thrust  down  to  beggary. 

Ladies  of  high  rank,  regardless  of  every  appearance 
of  dignity,  drove  to  the  shops  of  their  milliners  and  haber 
dashers,  and  there  met  stock-brokers  whom  they  regu 
larly  employed,  and  through  whom  extensive  sales  were 
daily  negotiated. 

Bubbles  were  blown  into  existence  on  every  hand,  and 
stocks  of  every  conceivable  nature,  name  and  descrip 
tion  were  issued  to  an  unparalleled  extent. 

Among  the  many  companies  thus  formed  was  "  the 
Globe."  Bits  of  playing  card,  on  which  was  stamped 
in  wax  the  Globe  Tavern,  were  issued  as  permits  to 
become  shareholders  in  a  new  sail-cloth  manufactory. 
"  No  name  was  subscribed  to  these  permits,  and  no 
prospect  existed  that  they  would  ever  be  worth  one 
farthing,  and  yet  they  sold  in  the  thronged  Alley  for 
sixty  guineas  each." 

'*  The  shares  of  another  bubble  created  by  Sir  Richard 
Steele,  for  the  establishment  of  a  fish-pool  for  bringing 
fresh  fish  by  sea  to  London,  sold  as  high  as  160  per 
cent." 

A  company  was  created  to  settle  the  Bahama  Islands, 
another  for  raising  hemp  and  flax  in  England,  and 


114  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

another  to  fish  for  wrecks  on  the  Irish  coast.  The  com 
panies  formed  for  insurance  were  numerous.  One 
was  created  with  a  capital  of  two  millions  of  pounds, 
for  the  insurance  of  horses  and  other  cattle.  A  second 
for  insurance  and  improvement  of  children's  fortunes. 
A  third  for  insurance  against  losses  by  servants,  and  a 
fourth  to  insure  against  theft  and  robbery." 

The  novelty  and  impracticability  of  these  schemes  seem 
to  have  been  their  greatest  recommendation  ;  for  exam 
ple,  the  bubble  by  which  perpetual  motion  was  to  be  pro 
duced,  with  all  its  attendant  advantages  to  the  mechani 
cal  world. 

Another  bubble,  which  was  projected  by  a  clergyman, 
was  for  "  the  purpose  of  importing  a  number  of  large 
jackasses  from  Spain." 

Really,  one  would  naturally  suppose  that  they  were 
abundantly  supplied  with  them  in  England  at  that  time. 

At  last  the  invention  of  speculators  seems  to  have 
been  completely  exhausted,  and  a  subscription  was  ad 
vertised,  and  a  large  number  of  shares  taken,  "  for  an 
undertaking  which  shall  in  due  time  be  revealed !" 

Though  the  infatuation  prevailed  to  an  incredible  ex 
tent,  some  few  persons  were  left  with  the  full  possession 
of  reason,  and  with  boldness  enough  to  ridicule  the  extrav 
agant  folly  of  the  multitude. 

One  advertisement  that  appeared,  was  admirably  cal 
culated  to  burlesque  the  companies  which  had  been  ere- 


THE    MERCHANT.  115 

ated.  It  was  as  follows  :  "  At  a  certain  (sham)  place, 
on  Tuesday  next,  books  will  be  opened  for  a  subscription 
of  two  millions,  for  the  invention  of  melting  down  saw 
dust  and  chips,  and  casting  them  into  clean  deal  boards, 
without  cracks  or  knots  !" 

The  great  South  Sea  Bubble  grew  envious,  and  deter 
mined  to  annihilate  all  the  smaller  bubbles ;  and  legal 
proceedings  forthwith  were  instituted  against  them.  Al 
most  instantaneously  they  were  all  blown  sky-high  and 
dispersed. 

"  Thousands  were  thus  reduced  to  beggary,  and  dis 
tracted  to  see  their  fancied  wealth  turn  to  waste  paper 
in  their  hands.  At  last  the  great  bubble  itself  burst, 
and  filled  the  kingdom  with  gloom  and  despair. 

"  The  honest  and  upright  were  engulfed  with  the 
knave  and  the  scoundrel ;  the  noble  in  rank  and  the 
princely  in  wealth  were  stript  of  their  imaginary  riches ; 
hundreds  of  individuals,  who  had  for  some  time  lived  in 
splendor,  surrounded  by  every  luxury  that  wealth  could 
bestow,  parted  from  their  kindred  and  homes,  and,  expat 
riating  themselves  from  their  native  land,  found  an 
asylum  in  distant  countries,  and,  broken-hearted  by 
misfortunes,  were  consigned  to  an  early  grave  among 
strangers." 

It  is  well  that  these  facts  should  be  presented  to  young 
American  merchants,  and  to  all,  indeed,  who  may  be 
tempted  above  measure  by  that  delusive  charmer,  Specu- 


116  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

lation.  Not  very  long  since  she  threatened  to  ruin  our 
country,  bearing  in  her  hand  a  mulberry  tree  as  her  scep 
tre.  Now,  that  sceptre  takes  the  more  attractive  form 
of  a  lump  of  gold. 

The  daring  recklessness  with  which  men  enter  into 
business,  without  capital,  does  not  deserve  the  name  of 
enterprise ;  it  frequently  deserves  the  shorter  and  more 
appropriate  term — fraud. 

Credit  is  a  dangerous  thing.  It  is  like  the  ogress  in 
the  fairy  tales,  who  gave  the  children  a  bountiful  supper, 
sang  them  to  sleep,  and  then  devoured  them.  Credit 
has  thus  cajoled  thousands,  who,  if  they  chanced  to  es 
cape  from  being  eaten  up,  are  mostly  bond-slaves  to 
debt  for  life ! 


CHAPTER  TWELFTH. 

DECISION. 

"  To-day  we  see  clearly,  but  to-morrow  all  is  in  clouds.  At  one  time  we  decide 
promptly,  are  fully  pleased  with  our  decision,  act  resolutely  upon  it,  and  all  is  well ;  bnt 
at  another  time  we  cannot  decide  at  all,  or  we  decide  with  doubt,  our  action  is  vacilla 
ting,  and  whatever  may  be  the  result,  we  feel  dissatisfied  with  it." — Mudie. 

"  I  shall  remember  ! 
When  Caesar  says— Do  this,  it  is  performed."— Shakspeare. 

THE  distinguished  American  traveller,  Ledyard,  on 
being  asked  when  he  would  start  for  Africa,  on  an  ex 
ploring  expedition,  surprised  the  committee  of  the  British 
Association,  by  replying  "  to-morrow." 

Decision  of  character  is  indispensable  to  all  who  would 
be  useful,  great,  or  good.  It  is  peculiarly  so  to  the  mer 
chant.  His  opinion  must  be  formed  quickly,  and  he  must 
oftentimes  act  upon  it  as  quickly.  Mercantile  news 
arrives  by  the  telegraph ;  he  must  decide  in  an  instant, 
what  course  he  is  to  pursue  with  reference  to  it,  and  send 
back  his  reply  with  the  same  lightning  speed.  He  can 
not  ask  advice.  With  celerity  and  certainty,  like  that  of 


118  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

the  aerial  messenger,  his  mind  comes  to  the  decision,  and 
the  moment  after  he  begins  to  act  upon  it. 

Again,  he  is  called  to  decide  upon  a  purchase,  for 
another  purchaser  treads  upon  his  heels.  Thousands  of 
dollars  depend  upon  his  immediate  determination.  If  he 
be  a  laggard,  where  there  are  so  many  competitors,  they 
will  rush  on,  and  he  be  trampled  under  foot,  or  left  la 
menting  in  the  "  blue  distance." 

The  merchant  may  be  called  upon  to  undertake  a  mat 
ter  which  concerns  hundreds  of  persons  and  involves 
millions  of  dollars,  and  when  questioned  about  the  time 
of  commencing  operations,  must  reply,  instead  of  "  to 
morrow" — "  this  very  hour."  Should  he  not  thus  reply, 
the  tide  may  turn,  the  very  tide, 

"Which  taken  at  the  flood  leads  on  to  fortune." 

But  this  quickness  of  decision  must  be  united  with  per 
severing  effort.  The  following  example,  given  by  a 
powerful  writer,*  well  exhibits  this  perseverance  in  a 
sudden  decision. 

"  A  young  man  wasted  in  two  or  three  years  a  large 
patrimony,  in  profligate  revels  with  a  number  of  thought 
less  associates,  calling  themselves  his  friends,  till  his  last 
means  were  exhausted,  when  they  of  course  treated  him 
with  neglect  or  contempt. 

"  Reduced  to  absolute  want,  he  went  one  day  out  of 

*  John  Foster. 


THE    MERCHANT.  119 

the  house  with  an  intention  to  put  an  end  to  his  life ;  but 
wandering  awhile,  almost  unconsciously,  he  came  to  the 
brow  of  an  eminence  which  overlooked  what  were  lately 
his  estates.  Here  he  sat  down  and  remained  fixed  in 
thought  for  a  number  of  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  he 
sprang  from  the  ground  with  a  vehement  exulting  emo 
tion.  He  had  formed  his  resolution,  which  was,  that 
these  estates  should  be  his  again;  he  had  formed  his 
plan,  too,  which  he  instantly  began  to  execute. 

"  He  walked  hastily  forward,  determined  to  seize  the 
very  first  opportunity,  of  however  humble  a  kind,  to  gain 
any  money,  though  it  were  ever  so  despicable  a  trifle, 
and  resolved  absolutely  not  tp  spend  a.  farthing  of  what 
ever  he  might  obtain. 

"  The  first  thing  that  drew  his  attention  was  a  heap 
of  coals  shot  out  of  carts  on  a  pavement  before  a  house. 
He  offered  to  shovel  or  wheel  them  into  the  place  where 
they  were  to  be  laid,  and  was  employed.  He  received  a 
few  pence  for  the  labor,  and  then,  in  pursuance  of  the 
saving  part  of  his  plan,  requested  some  small  gratuity  in 
meat  and  drink,  which  was  given  him.  He  then  looked 
out  for  the  next  thing  which  might  chance  to  offer ;  and 
went  with  indefatigable  industry  through  a  succession  of 
servile  employments,  still  scrupulously  avoiding  the  ex 
pense  of  a  penny. 

"  He  promptly  seized  every  opportunity  which  would 
advance  his  design,  without  regarding  the  meanness  of 


120  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

the  occupation,  or  his  own  appearance.  By  this  method 
he  had  gained,  after  a  considerable  time,  money  enough 
to  purchase,  in  order  to  sell  again,  a  few  cattle,  of  which 
he  had  taken  pains  to  understand  the  value.  He  speed 
ily  but  cautiously  turned  his  first  gains  into  second  ad 
vantages,  retained  his  extreme  parsimony,  and  advanced 
by  degrees  into  larger  transactions  and  incipient  wealth. 

"  The  final  result  was,  that  he  more  than  recovered 
his  lost  possessions,  and  died  an  inveterate  miser ,  worth 
60,000  pounds." 

Here  was  complete  success  from  decision  and  indomi 
table  perseverance — success  in  mere  money-making,  but 
united  with  an  intolerable  meanness,  which  kept  the  poor 
wretch  with  his  sixty  thousand  pounds  bound  down  to 
earth,  grovelling  in  the  mire — soiled  with  the  baseness 
of  his  low  endeavor,  while  within  his  breast  was  encaged 
a  noble  spirit,  which  might  have  aspired  to  high  and  be 
nevolent  deeds. 

"It  is  always  good  weather  when  you  wish  to  go  to 
any  particular  place  on  a  given  day,"  said  a  doubting, 
undecided  man,  to  another,  remarkable  for  his  decision 
of  character. 

"  You  mistake,"  was  the  reply ;  "  I  pay  no  attention 
to  the  weather  when  I  have  an  object  in  view  which  re 
quires  immediate  effort." 

"  But  a  man  must  yield  to  circumstances,"  replied  the 
doubter. 


THE    MERCHANT.  121 

"  No,  indeed ;  a  man  must  make  circumstances  yield 
to  him." 

"  But  when  lions  beset  your  path,  you  are  forced  to 
flee." 

"  Forced  to  flee !  That  would  be  dastardly !  Force 
them  to  flee." 

I  can,  and  I  will,  are  a  strong  couple  when  yoked 
together;  but  disjoined  by  an*/,  they  become  as  weak  as 
a  rope  of  sand. 


CHAPTER    THIRTEENTH. 

PUNCTUALITY. 

"  Celerity  is  never  more  admired, 
Than  by  the  negligent." 

PUNCTUALITY,  with  regard  to  time  and  money,  is  one 
of  those  good  old-fashioned  virtues  which  Franklin  de 
lighted  to  honor.  Poor  Richard's  aphorisms  have  been 
quoted  and  requoted,  till  they  are  not  only  as  familiar 
as  household  words — they  are  actually  such.  "  Time  is 
money" — "  Creditors  have  better  memories  than  debt 
ors,"  and  other  similar  pithy  proverbs ;  who  thinks  of 
referring  them  to  Franklin?  They  come  so  home  to 
"  men's  business  and  bosoms,"  that  with  one  consent 
they  have  adopted  them  as  their  own. 

Creditors  certainly  have  more  pleasant  memories  than 
debtors,  but  according  to  the  philosophical  principle,  that 
we  inevitably  remember  what  we  strive  to  forget,  debts 
must  cling  very  tenaciously  to  the  memory. 

"  Sell  to  a  man  who  is  punctual  in  his  payments,  at  a 
less  profit  than  to  him  who  is  not.  One  dollar  sure,  is 


THE    MERCHANT.  123 

better  than  two  doubtful,  and  it  will  avail  you  more  in 
an  emergency.  The  way  to  get  credit  is  to  be  punctual 
— the  way  to  preserve  it,  is  not  to  use  it  too  much.  Set 
tle  often — have  short  accounts.  Trust  no  strangers. 
Your  goods  are  better  than  doubtful  charges."* 

It  was  said  of  Robert  Morris,  that  amid  all  his  varied 
and  complicated  financial  concerns  he  adhered  to  an  inva 
riable  punctuality.  Who  was  ever  more  conscientiously 
punctual,  both  with  regard  to  time  and  money,  than 
Washington  ? 

Detain  not  the  wages  of  the  hireling.  Alas !  many 
a  cry  has  gone  up  to  heaven  against  those  unpunctual 
ones  who  have  carelessly  kept  back  the  hard-earned 
wages  of  the  poor. 

With  regard  to  time,  there  are  two  modes  of  being 
unpunctual ;  by  being  too  soon,  and  by  being  too  late. 
Too-muchative  is  always  on  the  ground  before  the  battle 
commences.  There  he  frets  and  fumes,  wasting  his 
strength,  his  temper,  and  his  time.  Is  a  bargain  to  be 
made?  Such  is  his  eagerness,  that  it  is  a  positive 
temptation  to  the  seller  to  ask  a  high  price ;  or,  change 
the  relative  position  of  buyer  and  seller,  then  he  is  so 
rabid  in  his  desire  to  sell,  and  so  extravagantly  recom 
mends  the  articles,  that  the  buyer  is  frightened  from 
making  a  purchase.  Too-muchative  is  not  only  the 
first  man  on  "  'Change,"  but  he  wanders  up  and  down 

*  Foster. 


124  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

like  a  bird  who  flies  abroad  just  before  dawn,  and  who 
finds  neither  bird,  bee  nor  other  insect  out  upon  the  cool 
morning  air.  Just  as  he  is  about  to  leave,  Laggard 
comes  loitering  in — he  was  the  very  man  Too-muchative 
had  been  waiting  for.  Both  are  out  of  temper,  and  each 
condemns  the  unpunctuality  of  the  other.  Laggard  says, 
"  Here  have  you  been  wasting  your  hour  or  two,  while  I 
have  been  busy  till  the  last  moment." 

"  Yes,  and  lost  a  thousand  dollars  by  not  being  here 
in  season." 

"  Lost  it  as  a  Boston  merchant  once  said  he  had  made 
three  thousand  dollars  before  breakfast." 

"How  was  that?"  says  Too-muchative. 

"  By  marking  up  his  goods  to  that  amount.  I  have 
lost  the  thousand,  according  to  your  account,  by  finding 
that  stocks  have  fallen.  To-morrow  they  may  rise 
again,"  replies  Laggard. 

"  But  you  will  not  be  here  to  take  the  advantage  of 
the  rise." 

"  You  were  here  soon  enough  to  sell  before  you  heard 
of  the  fall  this  morning,"  responds  Laggard. 

"  True  enough  !  If  we  could  both  be  moulded  into  one 
man,  that  man  would  always  be  just  in  time." 


CHAPTER  FOURTEENTH. 

COURTESY. 

"  Let  upstarts  exercise  unmanly  roughness; 
Clear  spirits  to  the  humble  will  be  humble." — Ford* 

'  I  have  sped  by  land  and  sea,  and  mingled  with  much  people, 
But  never  yet  could  find  a  spot  unsunned  by  human  kindness ; 
Some  more  and  some  less  ;  but,  truly,  all  can  claim  a  little  ; 
And  a  man  may  travel  through  the  world,  and  sow  it  thick  with  friendships." 

Tapper. 

THE  rude,  ungracious  granting  of  a  request  may  give 
as  much  pain  as  a  refusal ;  indeed  more,  provided  the 
refusal  be  couched  in  gentle,  regretful  terms,  with  a  man 
ner  accordant. 

A  merchant  has  much  granting  and  refusing  to  do  in 
the  course  of  his  life,  and  he  should  learn  to  do  both 
courteously. 

The  fact  is,  there  is  no  need  of  going  through  this 
crowded  world  with  the  arms  akimbo,  and  sharp  elbows 
punching  into  every  body's  sides.  The  man  who,  amid 
a  'throng  of  people,  attempts  thus  to  make  his  way,  will 
meet  with  resistance,  and  perchance  hard  knocks,  in 
return ;  while  he  who  keeps  his  elbows  closely  by  his 


126  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

side,  stands  upright,  treads  upon  nobody's  toes,  and  says 
gently,  in  a  dignified  manner,  "  By  your  leave,  sir,"  is 
sure  to  open  a  direct  path  to  the  object  in  view.  This 
is  an  entirely  different  mode  from  an  obsequious,  crouch 
ing,  cringing  mode  of  a  currying  favor." 

This  last  expression,  by  the  way,  is  denounced  by  rhet 
oricians  and  lexicographers  as  "not  elegant;"  but  what 
other,  equally  expressive,  have  we,  in  good  broad  Eng 
lish,  to  designate  that  flattering,  officious  kind  of  servility 
with  which  men  who  have  no  self-respect  seek  to  gain 
favor  ? 

All  the  world  agree  to  hate  meanness,  although  there 
might  be  some  diversity  of  opinion  about  what  constitutes 
the  unpopular  enormity. 

No  better  example  of  dignified  courtesy  can  be  pre 
sented  to  young  men  than  that  of  our  revered  Wash 
ington.  At  the  early  age  of  thirteen  he  compiled  for 
himself  a  code  of  manners  and  morals,  which  one  of  his 
biographers  (Sparks)  says,  "was  fitted  to  soften  and 
polish  the  manners,  to  keep  alive  the  best  affections  of 
the  heart,  to  impress  the  obligation  of  the  moral  virtues, 
to  teach  what  is  due  to  others  in  the  social  relations,  and 
above  all,  to  inculcate  the  practice  of  a  perfect  self- 
control." 

"  In  studying  the  character  of  Washington,  it  is  obvi 
ous  that  this  code  of  rules  had  an  influence  upon  his 
whole  life.  His  temperament  was  ardent,  his  passions 


THE    MERCHANT.  127 

strong,  and,  amidst  the  multiplied  scenes  of  temptation 
and  excitement  through  which  he  passed,  it  was  his  con 
stant  effort  and  ultimate  triumph  to  check  the  one  and 
subdue  the  other.  His  intercourse  with  men,  private 
and  public,  in  every  walk  and  station,  was  marked  with 
a  consistency,  a  fitness  to  occasions,  a  dignity ',  decorum, 
condescension  and  mildness;  a  respect  for  the  claims  of 
others,  and  a  delicate  perception  of  the  nicer  shades  of 
civility,  which  were  not  more  the  dictates  of  his  native 
good  sense  and  incomparable  judgment,  than  the  fruits 
of  a  long  and  unwearied  discipline." 

Glorious  example  !  Do  the  young  men  of  the  present 
day  emulate  it  7  Do  they  begin  at  the  early  age  of  thir 
teen  that  course  of  long  and  unwearied  discipline  1  Do 
they  not  rather,  "  think  to  make  their  way  through  the 
difficulties  of  life,  as  Hannibal  is  said  to  have  done  across 
the  Alps,  by  pouring  vinegar  upon  them  1  Or  they  take 
a  lesson  from  the  housemaids,  who  brighten  their  fire- 
irons  by  rubbing  them  with  something  rough." 

The  rowdyism  which  some  young  men  affect,  and 
which  others  perhaps  find  some  difficulty  in  laying  aside, 
they  will  heartily  despise,  when  a  few  added  years  have 
given  them  more  knowledge  of  mankind.  The  brusque, 
dashing,  saucy  style  of  a  young  rowdy  clerk,  leads  the 
sage,  sensible  merchant  to  predict  his  career  of  failure 
and  disgrace. 

"  I  shall  never  employ  such  a  young  man  to  transact 


128  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

business  for  me,"  says  the  experienced  merchant.  "  No, 
indeed ;  should  I  entrust  any  affairs  of  importance  to  this 
hot-headed,  uncontrolled,  uncourteous  youth,  he  would 
drive  away  my  customers,  insult  the  men  who  are  his 
subordinates,  and  provoke  me  to  anger.  My  clerks  must 
be  gentlemanly  in  their  deportment." 

The  good  manners  which  constitute  the  true  gentleman 
are  not  to  be  acquired  by  a  hasty  perusal  of  a  book  of 
etiquette,  nor  even  by  giving  days  and  nights  to  the 
study  of  Chesterfield. 

"  Good  manners  are  the  blossom  of  good  sense,"  says 
Pope.  Mere  superficial  manners  are  the  result  of  tact, 
but  genuine  courtesy  springs  from  the  heart.  It  "  vaunt- 
eth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up — doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,"  because  it  has  a  just  appreciation  of  what  is 
due  to  others,  and  a  cordial  good-will  to  all  mankind. 


CHAPTER   FIFTEENTH. 

CHEERFULNESS    AND    COURAG-E. 

"  The  mind  of  the  cheerful  man  is  a  steadfast  rock,  which  remains  unmoved  in  itself, 
and  dashes  back  all  the  waves  which  beat  angrily  against  it." — Mudie. 

"Laughter  is  a  great  instrument  of  peace  as  well  as  weapon  of  warfare.  It  hurls 
down  the  barriers  of  fear  and  constraint.  It  is  only  censurable  in  its  perverted  use 
when  it  insults  that  which  is  hallowed  by  religion,  by  affection,  by  misfortune — when  it 
intrudes  at  unseasonable  times  and  places,  and  when  indulged  for  improper  motives." 

"  Nature  hath  framed  strange  fellows  in  her  time  ; 
Some  that  will  evermore  peep  through  their  eyes; 
And  laugh  like  parrots  at  a  bag- piper  ; 
And  other  of  such  vinegar  aspect, 
That  they'll  not  show  their  teeth  in  way  of  smile, 
Though  Nestor  swear  the  jest  be  laughable." — Shakspeare. 

"  The  vacant  mirth  of  the  fool  must  not  be  confounded  with  that  genuine  cheerful 
ness  which  is  so  great  and  so  constant  a  blessing  to  its  possessor." — Mudie. 

AMONG  the  boys  at  school,  who  was  the  most  success 
ful  scholar  7  He  who  moped  over  his  book,  with  big 
tears  blinding  his  eyes  and  occasionally  dropping  upon 
the  dog-eared  pages  1  No,  indeed,  not  he. 

Was  it  he,  who,  when  you  had  a  game  of  leap-frog, 
stood  irresolute  and  fearful,  and,  when  his  turn  came, 
said,  "  I  cannot?"     No;  well  may  you  remember  that 
he  was  not  the  best  scholar. 
6* 


130  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

The  bright,  sunny  face  of  the  boy  who  came  with  his 
lesson  well-learned,  and  confident  of  his  ability  to  recite 
it  perfectly — or,  the  pale  face  of  the  severer  student,  who 
learned  not  so  readily,  but  quite  as  surely — they  rise  be 
fore  your  memory. 

Was  any  sport  on  hand,  who  more  ready  to  promote 
it  than  the  bright,  quick  scholar  1  "I  can  leap  ten 
feet,"  says  he.  "  No,  you  cannot,"  replies  moping  cry 
baby. 

u  I  will  prove  to  you  that  I  can."  And  the  courage 
ous  boy  walks  back  a  few  steps,  takes  a  long  breath, 
and  then  runs,  to  get  impulse  for  the  leap. — "  There !  I 
am  beyond  the  mark  two  whole  inches,"  he  exclaims,  ex- 
ultingly.  "  There  is  nothing  like  thinking  you  are  up 
to  anything." 

"  That's  true,"  says  the  pale-faced  hard  student.  "  I 
know  I  can  do  it."  He  leaps,  and  goes  four  inches  be 
yond  the  mark. 

Just  so  it  is  in  life.  Half  the  power  of  accomplish 
ment  lies  in  believing  a  thing  can  be  done ;  the  other 
half  in  believing  you  are  the  very  person  to  do  it. 

Cheerfulness  is  a  wonderfully  powerful  tonic  for 
the  moral  constitution — courage  its  safest,  best  stim 
ulant. 

He  who  would  achieve  greatness  or  gain  wealth,  must 
(as  we  say  in  common  parlance)  keep  up  his  spirits,  that 
is,  his  cheerfulness  and  courage. 


THE    MERCHANT.  131 

Did  Hannibal  go  sadly  and  despondingly  on  his  way 
to  the  conquest  of  Rome  1  Without  cheerfulness  in  his 
own  countenance  could  he  have  inspired  his  soldiers  with 
courage  and  enthusiasm  1  Did  he  mope  and  sigh  while 
he  made  his  adventurous  way  through  the  eternal  snows 
of  the  Pyrenees  and  Alps,  where  foot  of  man  had 
never  before  trodden  ?  Without  the  sustaining  and  im 
pulsive  energy  of  his  own  indomitable  resolution,  could 
he  have  induced  his  army  to  ford  rapid  rivers,  scale  tre 
mendous  precipices,  march  through  deep  mud  and  mire, 
and  encounter  fierce  barbarians  ? 

The  same  resolution,  applied  to  commercial  pursuits, 
would  have  made  Hannibal  the  best  merchant  in  Car 
thage. 

Cheerfulness  is  entirely  different  from  that  thoughtless 
mirth  which  seeks  perpetual  excitement  from  without; 
that  mirth  which  throws  the  mind  off  its  balance,  and  un 
fits  it  for  action.  Cheerfulness  maintains  a  quiet  equa 
nimity  and  keeps  all  the  faculties  in  tune. 

Cheerfulness  has  doubtless  often  been  compared  to  the 
sweet,  refreshing  green  in  which  our  earth  is  so  beauti 
fully  clad,  or  to  the  blue  sky  above,  which  gives  to  all 
Nature's  coloring,  harmony.  It  is  said  that  misfortunes 
never  come  singly.  "  Woes  cluster."  The  chief  rea 
son  for  this  fact  doubtless  is,  that  the  first  misfortune 
disheartens  a  man,  then  he  loses  his  courage,  and  other 
(so  called)  misfortunes  follow.  His  cheerfulness  van- 


132  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

ishes,  and  with  it  his  energy.  He  becomes  blind  to  con 
sequences,  and  reckless  about  them.  The  first  misfor 
tune  may  have  been  truly  such — that  is,  not  brought 
about  by  his  own  carelessness  or  imprudence ;  all  that 
follow  might  be  traced  directly  to  himself  as  the  cause. 

Why  should  a  young  merchant  with  health  and  manly 
strength  yield  to  despondency  ?  Courage,  cheerful  cour 
age,  will  scale  the  precipices,  ford  the  rivers,  and  en 
counter  all  the  dragons  in  your  path,  and  subdue  them 
all,  one  by  one. 

There  is  no  lack  of  desperate  enterprise  among  our 
countrymen ;  indeed,  the  whole  of  our  vast  country  seems 
to  have  come  under  the  influence  of  a  mighty  propelling 
power. 

"  From  earth's  farthest  corner  there  comes  not  a  breeze, 
But  wafts  her  the  buzz  of  her  gold-gleaning  bees" 

The  knight  in  Spenser's  Faery  Queen  saw  written 
over  every  door  of  the  Palace  of  Love — 

«  Be  bold  !    Be  bold  !" 

Every  door  excepting  one;  there  he  read  the  salutary 
caution — 

"  Be  not  too  bold." 

Every  stripe  of  the  star-spangled  banner  bears  the 
first  inscription — it  flaunts  upon  every  breeze,  and 
yet  there  must  be  some  sly  corner  where  the  cau- 


THE    MERCHANT.  133 

tionary  motto  finds  a  place.  Old  Massachusetts  may 
not  acknowledge  it,  nor  the  dauntless  Empire  State,  nor 
that  young  giant,  Ohio;  yet  their  commercial  success 
proves  that  with  the  most  adventurous  courage,  they 
keep  a  bright  look-out  for  lurking  danger.  This  it  is, 
indeed,  that  prevents  courage  from  becoming  rashness. 

We  have  placed  cheerfulness  and  courage  together,  as 
kindred  spirits.  For  strong,  enduring  courage  to  battle 
with  the  ills  of  life,  scarcely  exists  without  cheerfulness. 

"  The  mind  of  the  cheerful  man  is  a  steadfast  rock, 
which  remains  unmoved  in  itself,  and  dashes  back  all  the 
waves  which  beat  angrily  against  it."  Indeed,  before 
we  can  decide  whether  a  man  is  truly  cheerful  or  not,  we 
must  contemplate  him  under  some  reverse  or  misfortune 
which  would  ruffle  the  temper  of  another  man ;  and  it  is 
as  well  if  we  also  see  him  in  some  moment  of  success,  by 
which  a  man  of  less  stable  character  would  be  thrown 
into  ecstasies.  If  he  bear  the  trial  in  both  of  these, 
then  we  may  be  sure  that  his  cheerfulness  is  genuine. 
The  clown's  "  whistling  to  himself  for  want  of  thought," 
is  not  cheerfulness,  but  vacancy,  and  that  a  man  shall 
have  the  faculty  of  what  is  called  "  making  himself 
agreeable  in  company"  is  not  cheerfulness ;  for  it  may 
be  compatible  with  the  very  worst  passions  at  other 
times;  and  they  who  are  thus  gay  for  a  few  hours  in 
the  evening,  may  be  the  most  morose  and  sullen  of  mor 
tals  during  all  the  rest  of  the  day. 


134  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Any  man,  if  he  is  wise  enough,  and  will  take  the 
trouble,  may  ensure  to  himself  a  very  reasonable  de 
gree  of  cheerfulness.  A  reasonable  degree  of  knowledge 
is  of  course  necessary,  to  keep  down  those  superstitious 
fears  which  are  such  torments  to  the  ignorant,  and  above 
all,  the  man  who  would  be  securely  cheerful,  must  know 
that  he  has  made  his  peace  with  Heaven,  and  must  reg 
ulate  all  the  actions  of  his  life  in  accordance  with  that 
knowledge. 


CHAPTER   SIXTEENTH. 

SELF- GOVERNMENT. 

"  A  ship  that  saileth  on  every  wind  shall  never  reach  her  port." 

"  The  weakness  of  sndden  passion  layeth  bare  the  secrets  of  the  heart." 

"  While  choler  works,  good  friend,  you  may  be  wrong ; 
Distrust  yourself,  and  sleep  before  you  fight." — Armstrong. 

GOVERN  the  temper..  Angry  words  win  nothing  but 
contempt.  Have  you  ever  chanced  to  catch  a  glance  at 
yourself  in  a  mirror,  when  in  a  violent  rage  1  Did  you 
not  make  a  ridiculous  picture  1 

The  distortion  anger  occasions  to  the  features  of  the 
face,  renders  it  a  striking  exponent  of  mental  character. 
The  lines  become  fixed,  in  time,  and,  alas !  so  does  the 
habit,  until  we  hear  people  complain  that  they  cannot 
restrain  their  temper.  They  did  not  begin  soon  enough. 

Even  as  a  matter  of  policy,  a  man  should  gain  control 
over  his  temper,  for  what  abiding  influence  can  he  exer 
cise  over  others,  if  he  be  not  master  over  himself? 
-  "  If  a  man  intended  to  go  headlong  to  his  ruin,  not 
only  without  sympathy,  but  amid  the  sporting  and  mer 
riment  of  others,  he  could  not  pursue  a  course  more  cer- 


136  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

tain  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose  than  by 
allowing  his  emotions  to  be  worked  into  a  state  of  exaspe 
ration.  A  person  who  has  acquired,  no  matter  by  what 
means,  this  unhappy  temperament,  is  always  at  the 
mercy  of  others.  He  is  incapable  of  being  a  master  in 
the  useful  and  honorable  sense  of  the  word ;  and,  as  a 
servant,  he  is  not  trustworthy,  even  with  every  desire  to 
be  honest  and  faithful  in  the  execution  of  that  which  is 
committed  to  his  care.  In  short,  if  a  person  wishes  to 
be  as  useless,  and  cut  as  miserable  a  figure  in  the  world 
as  he  possibly  can,  he  should  by  all  means  acquire  the 
exacerbations  of  temper,  but  otherwise,  he  should  by 
every  means  avoid  them."* 

Govern  the  appetites.  The  nearest  approach  to  a  brute 
that  man  can  make,  is  to  become  a  mere  creature  of 
appetite — a  feeder,  a  toper. 

So  long  as  he  is  well  fed,  or  rather  crammed,  a  glutton 
is  a  stupid,  harmless  lump,  but  deny  him  his  provender 
and  he  becomes  a  roaring  lion.  Since  his  highest  aim  is 
to  gormandize  upon  the  delicious,  can  anything  worthy 
of  manly  dignity  be  expected  from  him  ?  Pshaw  !  Let 
him  alone — he  is  too  disgusting  an  object  for  the  mind  to 
dwell  upon — but  not  so  much  so  as  the  drunkard,  the 
licentious ! 

"  Learn  a  juster  taste ! 
And  know  that  temperance  is  true  luxury." 

*  Mudie. 


THE  MERCHANT.  13*7 

Govern  the  appetites,  or  they  will  become  tyrants,  under 
whose  cruel  bondage  all  that  is  noble  in  human  character 
will  be  crushed  out  of  existence. 

Besides,  indulgence  of  the  appetites,  in  time,  destroys 
health. 

"With  dextrous  thousands  just  within  the  goal 
Of  wild  debauch  direct  their  nightly  course ! 
Perhaps  no  sickly  qualms  bedim  their  days, 
No  morning  admonitions  shock  their  head, 
But  ah  !  what  woes  remain ! 

For  know,  whate'er 
Beyond  its  natural  fervor  hurries  on 
The  sanguine  tide  !  whether  the  frequent  bowl, 
High-seasoned  fare,  or  exercise  to  toil 
Protracted,  spurs  to  its  last  stage  tired  life, 
And  sows  the  temples  with  untimely  snow." 

And  what  is  life  without  health  ?  Remember,  that  noth 
ing  conduces  so  much  to  its  preservation  as  self-govern 
ment. 

Govern  the  passions.  Hatred,  envy,  malice,  covet- 
ousness,  are  venomous  serpents,  which  bite  like  the 
adder.  The  man  who  harbors  them  in  his  bosom,  in 
time  becomes  a  miserable  wretch,  for  these  serpents 
swell  and  expand  until  there  is  no  resting-place  left 
there  for  love,  joy,  and  peace. 


CHAPTER    SEVENTEENTH. 

G-  E  N  E  B,  O  S  I  T  Y  . 

"The  kindest  man, 

The  best  conditioned  and  unwearied  spirit 
In  doing  courtesies." — Merchant  of  Venice. 

"  The  least  flower,  with  a  brimming  cup,  may  stand 

And  share  its  dew-drop  with  another  near." — Elizabeth  Barrett. 

"  The  sense  to  value  riches,  with  the  art 
T'  enjoy  them,  and  the  virtue  to  impart." — Pope. 

WHAT  !  Economy  and  generosity  !  Blowing  cold 
and  hot  with  the  same  breath !  Certainly ;  is  it  not 
perfectly  philosophical  ?  Generosity  in  its  highest  sense 
is  entirely  consistent  with  economy ;  nay,  the  very  pro 
moter  of  it.  This  kind  of  generosity,  however,  more 
properly  belongs  to  what  is  called  liberality — that  diffu 
sive  benevolence  which  a  man  can  indulge  who  has  hon 
estly  and  honorably  acquired  wealth. 

Generosity  is  that  noble  consideration  which  one  man 
shows  for  the  interests  of  another.  Its  influence  may  be 
felt  by  all  who  are  associated  with  him,  in  the  counting- 
house,  on  'Change,  and  in  the  social  circle.  It  arises 
from  a  warm,  cordial  sympathy  with  his  fellow-men,  and 
is  an  endearing  and  wonderfully  popular  trait  of  charac- 


THE    MERCHANT.  139 

ter.  Generosity  carries  with  it  the  applauses  of  the 
million,  while  simple  Justice  stands  by,  unheeded. 

But  unfortunately,  having  been  frequently  found  asso 
ciated  with  profligacy  and  recklessness,  it  has  shared  the 
fate  of  Poor  Tray,  and  been  in  danger  of  being  kicked 
out  of  good  company  by  the  thoughtful  and  sober-minded. 
Yet,  popular  as  this  virtue  is  with  the  many,  it  cannot 
be  assumed  by  the  cunning  and  designing  to  further  their 
own  selfish  purposes.  It  is  generally  a  spontaneous 
natural  impulse,  and,  like  all  impulses,  must  be  regulated 
by  reason  and  conscience. 

The  common-sense  poet  Crabbe,  has  happily  illustrated 
this  kind  of  generosity  in  the  character  he  has  given  of 
William,  the  tradesman. 

"  Content  not  always  waits  upon  success, 
And  more  may  he  enjoy  who  profits  less. 
"Walter  and  William  took  (their  father  dead,) 
Jointly  the  trade  to  which  they  both  were  bred. 
When  fixed,  they  married,  and  they  quickly  found 
With  due  success  their  honest  labors  crowned : 
Few  were  their  losses,  but  although  a  few, 
Walter  was  vexed  !  and  somewhat  peevish  grew. 
'  You  put  your  trust  in  every  pleading  fool,' 
Said  he  to  William,  and  grew  strong  and  cool. 
'Brother,  forbear,'  he  answered,  'take  your  due, 
Nor  let  my  lack  of  caution  injure  you.' 
Half-friends  they  parted — better  so  to  close, 
Than  longer  wait  to  part  entirely  foes. 


140  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

"Walter  had  knowledge,  prudence,  jealous  care ; 
He  let  no  idle  views  his  bosom  share  ; 
He  never  thought  nor  felt  for  other  men, 
4  Let  one  mind  one,  and  all  are  minded  then ;' 
Friends  he  respected,  and  believed  them  just ; 
But  they  were  men,  and  he  would  no  man  trust ; 
He  tried  and  watched  his  people  day  and  night ! 
The  good  it  harmed  not ;  for  the  bad  'twas  right : 
He  could  their  humors  bear,  nay,  disrespect — 
But  he  could  yield  no  pardon  to  neglect ; 
That  all  about  him  were  of  him  afraid, 
'  Was  right,'  he  said — '  so  should  we  be  obeyed.' 
These  merchant  maxims,  much  good  fortune  too, 
And  ever  keeping  one  grand  point  in  view, 
To  vast  amount  his  once  small  portion  grew. 

"William  was  kind  and  easy ;  he  complied 
"With  all  requests,  or  grieved  when  he  denied. 
Prone  to  compassion,  mild  with  the  distressed, 
He  bore  with  all  who  poverty  professed, 
And  some  would  he  assist,  nor  one  would  he  arrest. 
He  had  some  loss  at  sea,  bad  debts  on  land, 
His  clerk  absconded  with  some  bills  in  hand, 
And  plans  so  often  failed  that  he  no  longer  planned. 
To  a  small  house  (his  brother's)  he  withdrew, 
At  easy  rent — the  man  was  not  a  Jew ; 
And  there  his  losses  and  his  cares  he  bore, 
Nor  found  that  want  of  wealth  could  make  him  poor. 

No,  he  in  fact  was  rich  ;  nor  could  he  move, 
But  he  was  followed  by  the  looks  of  love  ; 
All  he  had  suffered,  every  former  grief 
Made  those  around  more  studious  in  relief; 


THE    MERCHANT.  141 

He  saw  a  cheerful  smile  in  every  face, 
And  lost  all  thoughts  of  error  and  disgrace. 
Pleasant  it  was  to  see  them  in  their  walk, 
Round  their  small  garden,  and  to  hear  them  talk  ; 
Their  common  comforts  they  had  all  in  view  ; 
Light  were  their  troubles,  and  their  wishes  few ; 
Thrift  made  them  easy  for  the  coming  day, 
Religion  took  the  dread  of  death  away  ; 
A  cheerful  spirit  still  ensured  content, 
And  love  smiled  round  them  wheresoe'er  they  went. 

Walter,  meantime,  with  all  his  wealth's  increase, 
Gained  many  points,  but  could  not  purchase  peace. 
When  he  withdrew  from  business  for  an  hour, 
Some  fled  his  presence,  all  confessed  his  power. 
He  sought  affection,  but  received,  instead, 
Fear  undisguised,  and  love-repelling  dread  ; 
He  looked  around  him — '  Harriet,  dost  thou  love  ?' 
'  I  do  my  duty,'  said  the  timid  dove. 
'  Good  Heaven  1  your  duty  ?     Prithee  tell  me  now — 
To  love  and  honor — was  not  that  your  vow  ? 
Come,  my  good  Harriet,  I  would  gladly  seek 
Your  inmost  thought — Why  can't  the  woman  speak  ? 
Have  you  not  all  things  f — '  Sir,  do  I  complain  ?' 
'  No,  that's  my  part,  which  I  perform  in  vain ; 
I  want  a  simple  answer,  and  direct — 
But  you  evade  ;  yes  !  'tis  as  I  suspect. 
Come  then,  my  children  !    Watt,  upon  your  knees, 
Yow  that  you  love  me.' — '  Yes,  sir,  if  you  please.' 
'Again  !    By  Heaven,  it  mads  me,  I  require 
Love. 


142  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

I  would  spend 

A  thousand  pounds  to  get  a  single  friend. 
I've  not  a  friend  in  all  the  world — not  one : 
I'd  be  a  bankrupt  sooner  ;  nay,  'tis  done  ; 
In  every  better  hope  of  life  I  fail ; 
You're  all  tormentors,  and  my  house  a  jail. 
Tis  to  your  uncle's  cot  you  wish  to  run, 
To  learn  to  live  at  ease  and  be  undone  : 
Him  you  can  love  who  lost  his  whole   estate, 
And  I,  who  gave  you  fortunes,  have  your  hate.' " 

We  cannot  but  wish,  for  example's  sake,  that  the  be 
loved  William  had  united  with  his  too  easy  generosity, 
a  due  degree  of  his  brother's  "  knowledge  and  pru 
dence."  Generosity,  though  it  may  "  lean  to  virtue's 
side,"  is  decidedly  a  fault  when  it  interferes  with  the 
claims  of  justice. 

A  man  can  have  no  true  generosity  whose  expendi 
tures  exceed  his  income.  His  generosity  is  reckless, 
when  he  subjects  his  own  family  to  inconvenience,  to  lavish 
money  upon  others  ;  it  is  insane,  when  he  permits  those 
of  his  own  household  to  need  the  comforts  of  life,  while 
he  bestows  upon  strangers  munificent  gifts. 

Alas,  that  the  most  beautiful  things  in  life  should  lie 
so  near  the  verge  of  the  detestable  ! 


CHAPTER    EIGHTEENTH. 

G-OOD     COMPANY. 

"  Costermongers  of  ideas  are  the  very  life  of  the  parades  and  lounges  of  our  great 
towns ;  and  they  run  to  and  fro,  vending  their  wares  with  the  same  assiduity  as  their 
namesakes,  only  they  themselves  are  both  ass  and  panniers,  and  if  you  happen  to  be 
waiting  an  appointment,  or  killing  time  in  any  way,  they  deal  cheaply  ;  but  if  you  are 
in  haste,  avoid  them." 

"  But  many  friends  there  be,  both  well  and  wisely  greeted."—  Tupper. 

"  THAT  young  man  will  make  his  fortune  at  any  rate, 
but  I  am  determined  to  give  him  a  helping  hand,  just  for 
the  pleasure  of  it." 

The  old  merchant  who  said  this,  well  understood  the 
character  of  the  young  man  of  whom  he  was  speaking, 
and  yet  he  had  only  seen  him  in  the  street  and  at  church. 

The  sagacious  observer  had  noticed  the  uniform  neat 
ness  and  propriety  of  his  dress ;  it  was  not  that  of  a 
fashion-plate,  taking  a  sly  trip  from  the  shop-window,  the 
better  to  display  itself,  but  that  of  a  careful  self-respect 
ing  citizen,  abroad  minding  his  own  affairs,  and  taking  it 
for  granted  that  other  people  were  out  for  the  same  pur 
pose. 


144  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

The  young  man,  moreover,  was  never  seen  lounging 
about  hotel-doors  with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth,  nor  in  a 
bar-room  with  his  feet  upon  the  window-sill,  and  a  yellow 
covered  pamphlet,  denoting  light  literature,  in  his  hand. 

Neither  was  he  to  be  found  at  fashionable  hours  on  the 
street,  where  fops  do  congregate,  with  an  eye-glass,  mar- 
velously  held  up  without  hands,  staring  at  the  passers-by, 
or  making  sweet  or  saucy  speeches  to  the  beflounced  and 
befurbelowed.  He  was  not  to  be  found  at  the  club-room.  * 

Not  to  enumerate  all  the  places  where  he  was  not  to 
be  found,  there  was  one  place  where  he  was  as  regularly 
to  be  found  on  Sunday,  as  the  sexton  himself,  namely,  at 
church.  And  here  it  was  that  the  old  gentleman  had 
mainly  taken  observations  ;  he  could  not  help  it,  for  he 
sat  directly  behind  him,  and  unless  he  closed  his  eyes,  he 
must  see  his  regular  neighbor.  He  jotted  down  his  ob 
servations  in  the  day-book  of  memory. 

That  most  excellent  person  would  blush  to  see  his 
name  bruited  abroad  in  this  connection,  for  he  did  indeed 
give  the  helping  hand  to  that  young  merchant,  and  he 
enjoys  the  reward  of  pure  benevolence  in  the  depths  of 
his  own  generous  heart.  Nor  was  this  the  sole  instance 

*  "  A  club  there  is,  of  smokers.    Dare  you  come 
To  that  close,  clouded,  hot,  narcotic  room  ? 
The  midnight's  past ;  the  very  candles  seem 
Dying  for  air,  and  give  a  ghastly  gleam, 
Where  curling  fumes  in  lazy  wreaths  arise, 
And  prosing  topers  rub  their  winking  eyes." — Grdbbe, 


THE    MERCHANT.  145 

of  his  holding  out  the  helping  hand  to  the  deserving ; 
other  merchants  could  certify  to  the  efficient  encouragement 
he  has  extended  to  them,  and  he  will  go  down  to  his  grave 
honored  with  the  noble  title  of  "  the  young  man's  friend." 
May  others,  prosperous  and  rich,  emulate  his  example ! 

But  must  the  life  of  the  young  merchant,  of  necessity 
be  one  of  unremitting  toil  7  Must  his  heart  petrify  under 
the  process  of  money-making?  Must  mind  and  soul, 
with  all  their  glorious  attributes,  be  whelmed  in  the  mael 
strom  of  commerce  1 

No !  most  earnestly,  no !  not  even  were  the  man 
thereby  to  gain  the  whole  world ;  miserable  exchange  for 
his  soul ! 

Although  he  submits,  forsooth,  to  the  drudgery  of  the 
counting-room,  rises  early  and  sits  up  late,  eating  "  the 
bread  of  carefulness"  from  day  to  day,  and  even  enters 
with  enthusiasm*  into  all  the  minutiae  of  business,  he  is 
nevertheless,  a  living,  breathing  man,  with  an  eye  for  the 
beautiful,  a  heart  that  might  throb  with  affection  and 
capability  to  enjoy  nature,  truth,  poetry,f  society. 

*  "  No  man  will  do  his  duty  in  any  station,  whether  that  station  be 
high  or  low,  if  he  himself  does  not  consider  what  he  has  to  do  as  a  matter 
of  great  importance — as  the  very  foremost  in  his  thoughts." — Hudie. 

f  A  stray  muse  occasionally  peeps  slily  into  a  counting-room,  and 
finding  the  votaries  of  other  numbers  than  poetical  ones,  busy  with 
day-book  and  ledger,  she  is  repulsed ;  but  in  hours  of  leisure  she  comes 
again,  and  the  true  "  poeta  nascitur"  cannot  say,  "  not  at  home."  Halleck 
and  Sprague,  happily  for  the  world,  could  not  resist  her  syren  voice  > 
and  Washington  Irving  gave  up  all,  to  follow  her  bidding. 

7 


146  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Because  he  has  chosen  a  profession  which  has  more  di 
rectly  and  avowedly  for  its  aim  the  filling  of  his  coffers,  is 
he  meanwhile  to  become  a  stock-fish  ? 

"  And  it  is  not  a  dream  of  a  fancy  proud, 

With  a  fool  for  its  dull  begetter  ; 
There's  a  voice  of  the  heart  that  proclaims  aloud 

We  are  born  for  something  better ; 
And  that  voice  of  the  heart,  oh,  ye  may  believe, 
Will  never  the  hope  of  the  soul  deceive.'  " 

No  !  no  !  the  young  man  is  to  go  on  vigorously  with 
the  cultivation  of  his  intellect,  and  keep  his  heart  open  to 
all  genial  influences,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  stifling  at 
mosphere  of  the  gold  region.  * 

Then  your  hours  of  leisure  will  be  hours  of  rational 
enjoyment.  Even  after  the  fatigues  of  the  long  day,  in 
the  sales-room  or  at  the  desk,  you  may  set  ennui  at  de 
fiance,  without  seeking  recreation  amid  the  horrid  haunts 
of  vice. 

There  are  lectures,  scientific,  literary  and  religious, 
where  you  may  be  entertained,  and  at  the  same  time  re 
ceive  valuable  information,  all  packed  up  in  a  condensed 
form,  ready  for  use. 

*  That  excellent  merchant,  Joseph  May,  said  :  "  Few  men  are  so 
busy,  none  should  be  so,  as  to  have  no  time  to  devote  to  their  moral  cul 
ture  and  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge.  Life  was  not  given  us  to 
be  all  used  up  in  the  pursuit  of  what  we  must  leave  behind  us  when  we 
die." 


THE    MERCHANT.  147 

A  good  book,  that  most  delightful  companion,  you  can 
enjoy  without  fear  of  interruption — thought  responds 
to  thought — emotion  to  emotion  ;  opinions  may  differ,  but 
no  angry  contest  ensues. 

And  thus  you  prepare  yourself  for  pleasurable  social 
intercourse.  Without  such  cultivation  your  thoughts 
will  be  vapid  and  inane,  restricted  within  the  bounds  of 

"  the  crown  of  a  hat ;" 

and  your  conversation,  when  it  does  not  "  smell  of  the 
shop, "  will  be  confined  to  the  narrow  precincts  of  tittle- 
tattledom. 

In  the  words  of  the  eloquent  Dr.  Bethune  :  "  Society 
you  must  have.  It  is  necessary  to  the  social  wants  of 
the  heart;  and  the  society  of  intelligent  persons  will 
often  teach  more,  and  in  a  more  pleasant  manner,  than 
books.  Of  society  you  may  have  your  choice.  Waste 
not  your  time  with  the  silly,  who  will  never  receive  nor 
give  profit.  The  truly  good  and  intelligent  are  ever 
ready  to  meet  the  advances  of  the  modest,  the  virtuous, 
and  inquiring.  In  the  atmosphere  which  they  breathe, 
you  will  always  find  health  and  delight ;  but  as  *  evil 
communications  corrupt  good  manners,'  so  idle  and  igno 
rant  communications  corrupt  good  sense." 

'  "  No  society  is  more  profitable,"  continues  the  Chris 
tian  orator,  "  because  none  more  refining  and  provoca 
tive  of  virtue,  than  that  of  refined  and  sensible  women. 


148  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

God  enshrined  peculiar  goodness  in  the  form  of  woman, 
that  her  beauty  might  win,  her  gentle  voice  invite,  and 
the  desire  of  her  favor  persuade,  men's  sterner  souls  to 
leave  the  paths  of  sinful  strife  for  the  ways  of  pleasant 
ness  and  peace.  But  when  woman  falls  from  her  blest 
eminence,  and  sinks  the  guardian  and  the  cherisher  of 
pure  and  rational  enjoyments  into  the  vain  coquette  and 
nattered  idolater  of  idle  fashion,  she  is  unworthy  of  an 
honorable  man's  love,  or  a  sensible  man's  admiration. 
Beauty  is  then  but  at  best 

— 'A  pretty  plaything, 
Dear  deceit.' 

"  I  honor  the  chivalrous  deference  which  is  paid  in  our 
land  to  women.  It  proves  that  our  men  know  how  to 
respect  virtue  and  pure  affection,  and  that  our  women 
are  worthy  of  such  respect.  Yet  woman  should  be  some 
thing  more  than  mere  woman,  to  win  us  to  their  society. 
To  be  our  companions,  they  should  be  fitted  to  be  our 
friends  ;  to  rule  our  hearts,  they  should  be  deserving  the 
approbation  of  our  minds.  There  are  many  such,  and 
that  there  are  not  more,  is  rather  the  fault  of  our  sex 
than  their  own ;  and  despite  all  the  unmanly  scandals 
that  have  been  thrown  upon  them,  in  prose  or  verse, 
they  would  rather  share  in  the  rational  conversation  of 
men  of  sense,  than  listen  to  the  silly  compliments  of 
fools  ;  and  a  man  dishonors  them,  as  well  as  disgraces 


THE    MERCHANT.  149 

himself,  when  he  seeks  their  circle  for  idle  pastime,  and 
not  for  the  improvement  of  his  mind  and  the  elevation 
of  his  heart."* 

*  We  are  here  reminded  of  the  love-letters  of  William  Roscoe,  of  Liv 
erpool.  They  were  addressed  to  the  lady  whom  he  afterwards  married, 
and  whose  congeniality  of  disposition  and  similarity  of  taste ,  rendered 
her  a  delightful  companion,  and  his  home,  to  the  world-tossed  man  of 
many  troubles,  a  haven  of  peace  and  joy. 

"  I  cannot  help  pleasing  myself,"  says  Mr.  Roscoe,  at  the  commence 
ment  of  this  correspondence,  "  with  the  reflection,  what  an  infinite  va 
riety  of  subjects  this  intercourse  will  give  rise  to.  Convinced  of  the 
perfect  confidence  that  exists  between  us,  how  freely  might  our  thoughts 
expand  themselves.  The  desire  of  pleasing  might  cause  some  little  at 
tention  to  the  mode  of  expression,  while  the  certainty  of  mutual  indul 
gence  would  prevent  us  from  being  apprehensive  about  trivial  inaccura 
cies." 

One  thing  with  regard  to  this  epistolary  correspondence  is  quite 
amusing  ;  it  was  kept  up  between  the  parties  while  they  resided  in  the 
same  town,  excepting  the  short  occasional  absences  of  Mr.  Roscoe. 


CHAPTER  NINETEENTH. 

A    G-OOD    WIFE. 

"  What  art  thou  man,  without  the  ties  that  bind 
Congenial  souls,  and  harmonize  the  mind  ? 
Without  the  hopes  that  thrill,  the  fears  that  move, 
The  strings  that  vibrate  to  the  voice  of  love  ? 
Without  the  tear  that  gems  compassion's  eye  ? 
A  dark  cloud  driven  across  the  midnight  sky  !" 

G.  Waddington. 

"  THE  man  who  has  a  wife  and  children  has  given 
hostages  to  Fortune,"  says  Lord  Bacon.  He  has  then 
objects  to  toil  for,  besides  himself.  He  has  a  motive  to 
sweeten  and  dignify  labor — the  smiles  and  happiness  of 
those  helpless  beings,  to  whom  he  is  a  protector  and  a 
support. 

Why  then  should  we  hesitate  to  name  a  good  wife, 
among  the  elements  of  success  ? 

Every  man  needs  kindness,  sympathy,  and  the  endear 
ing  tenderness  of  loving  ones,  to  constitute  a  home.  The 
possession  of  such  a  home  has  a  vast  influence  on  a  man's 
moral  character  ;  he  is  not  a  "  live"  man  without  it — his 
heart,  at  least,  the  very  fountain  of  life,  is  dead. 


THE    MERCHANT.  151 

What  process,  within  the  scope  of  man's  invention, 
could  more  effectually  check  "  the  genial  current  of  the 
soul,"  than  the  homeless  life  of  many  of  our  young  mer 
chants  1  At  a  hotel,  or  large  boarding-house,  or  at  a 
refectory,  they  bolt  down  their  breakfasts  and  dinners,  as 
though  they  had  caught  the  rapidity  of  "  locomotive"  ac 
tion,  and  the  selfishness  of  railroad-station  manners. 
The  men,  who  sit  side  by  side,  are  either  entire  stran 
gers,  or  persons  totally  indifferent  to  each  other's  welfare. 
Sometimes,  however,  they  look  frowningly  upon  their 
neighbors,  as  more  successful  rivals  in  business,  and  have 
their  daily  bread  embittered  by  this  reflection.  As  for 
conversation — they  might  as  well  be  shut  up  in  jars,  like 
the  forty  thieves.  They  are  gregarious  only  as  other 
animals  are — they  feed  together.  The  clatter  of  plates, 
knives  and  forks,  and  the  stamping  of  boot-heels,  create 
a  din  which  would  drown  gentle  converse.  The  perpet 
ual  coming  and  going  of  the  tardy  and  the  hasty,  is  like 
that  of  the  eager  throng  at  the  post-office  on  the  opening 
of  the  mails,  after  the  arrival  of  the  steamer.  Why  this 
hurry?  Why  this  rapid  impatience'?  Apparently  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  all  the  commercial  world  has 
received  an  impulse  similar  to  what  our  earth  might  re 
ceive  from  the  sweep  of  a  comet's  tail — they  are  turned 
out  of  the  good  old-fashioned,  quiet  course,  and  drive 
along  in  breathless  haste — run,  or  be  run  over. 

It  seems  as  dangerous  for  any  one  man  to  stop  to  take 


152  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

breath,  as  it  was  for  the  sage  Hibernian  to  let  go,  who 
formed  the  topmost  round  of  the  man-ladder  to  the 
moon — in  the  water. 

Poor  young  merchant !     He  cannot  even 

"  Pause,  while  Beauty's  pensive  eye, 
Asks  from  his  heart  the  homage  of  a  sigh." 

If  the  momentary  thought  gleam,  like  a  solitary  sunbeam 
on  a  November  day,  athwart  the  gloom  of  that  heart — 
"  I  might  be  happier  if  I  had  a  home" — it  is  blinked  out 
in  an  instant.  "  I  cannot  afford  to  marry,"  is  the  mat 
ter-of-fact  cloud  that  darkens  the  momentary  gleam. 

What !  not  if  you  begin  in  a  moderate  way,  as  your 
fathers  did  1 

Just  such  a  question  as  Rip  Van  Winkle  might  ask  ! 
Begin  now,  in  the  humble  way  in  which  they  did  ?  No, 
indeed,  we  must  begin  where  they  leave  off;  in  houses, 
servants,  and  equipage,  we  must  be  equal  to  what  they 
are  at  the  climax  of  their  mercantile  career. 

When  Matthew  Carey  married,  "his  whole  for 
tune  consisted  of  a  few  hundred  dollars  worth  of  fur 
niture  and  some  back  numbers  of  his  magazine.  Mrs. 
Carey  had  no  dowry  but  that  of  prudence,  intelli 
gence  ,  and  industry.  But  what  of  that?  Both  hus 
band  and  wife  had  minds  filled  with  good  common-sense. 
They  had  no  false  pride  to  retard  their  efforts.  They 
were  persevering  and  economical,  and  together  they  re- 


THE    MERCHANT.  153 

solved  to  make  their  way  in  the  world."  "  We  early 
formed  a  determination,"  said  Mr.  Carey,  "  to  indulge 
in  no  unnecessary  expense,  and  to  mount  the  ladder  so 
slowly  as  to  run  no  risk  of  having  to  descend." 

How  altered  is  the  mode  of  beginning  life  now-a-days  ! 
Large  rents,  expensive  establishments,  unlimited  debts, 
"  routs  and  rounds  of  fashion"  are  at  once  launched  into ; 
and  the  young  couple  live  on,  so  long  as  petty  contri 
vances  and  deceptions  will  sustain  them,  and  then  sink 
into  homeless  misery,  from  which  they  perchance  never 
recover. 

"  Daughters  who  have  been  tenderly  reared,  and  who 
have  brought  handsome  fortunes  to  their  husbands,  are 
often  obliged  to  return  home  to  their  aged  parents,  who 
have  to  maintain  them,  their  husbands  and  children." 

"  Fathers  have  the  unspeakable  misery  of  beholding 
their  sons,  in  whom  the  hopes  for  after  years  were  gar 
nered,  broken  down,  indolent,  reckless,  dissipated,  hang 
ing  on  society  as  pests  and  nuisances,  instead  of  becom 
ing  ornaments  and  examples." 

What  masses  of  misery  would  it  not  prevent,  if  the 
young  men  of  our  day  would  follow  the  shining  and  vir 
tuous  example  of  Matthew  Carey!  He  and  his  good 
wife  "  lived  happily  together  for  nearly  thirty-nine  years." 
Were  they  less  happy  for  the  self-denial  which  each 
practised  for  the  other's  sake  1 

The  wealthy  merchant,  William  Parsons,  enjoyed  a 
7* 


154  SUCCESS    IN   LIFE. 

similar  helpmeet  forty-seven  years.  "  By  her  congenial 
spirit  and  the  similarity  of  her  views,  by  sympathizing 
in  all  his  benevolent  feelings  and  co-operating  in  all  his 
plans  and  deeds  of  charity,  she  contributed  to  make  his 
life  tranquil  and  his  home  happy." 

Let  it  no  longer  be  the  reproach  of  American  mer 
chants  that  they  have  no  homes.  It  has  been  cast  upon 
them  as  such  by  English  travellers.  They  have  repre 
sented  them  as  a  set  of  men  who,  in  eccentric  orbits, 
revolve  from  boarding-house  to  boarding-house,  wives, 
children  and  servants,  attending  as  their  inconvenient 
satellites. 

"  Home,  sweet  home,"  seems  to  have  lost  its  charm 
for  woman,  since  all-absorbing,  greedy  desire  for  gain  has 
taken  entire  possession  of  man's  heart  and  soul,  and  an 
extravagant  passion  for  dress  is  the  set-off  on  the  part  of 
the  wife.  To  these  two  passions,  the  old-fashioned  English 
home-comfort  is  sacrificed.  And  what  has  been  gained  1 

Nothing  to  compensate  for  the  loss  to  the  husband,  but 
a  larger  amount  of  anxiety,  toil — and  money,  to  be  fool 
ishly  lavished  upon  the  wife,  who  on  her  part  substitutes 
the  admiration  of  "  stupid  starers,"  and  the  consolation  of 
possessing  more  rich  dresses  and  costly  trinkets  than  she 
ever  dreamed  of  in  her  early  country-home — that  quiet 
home  which,  even  amid  the  insane  excitement  of  the  city, 
occasionally  comes  up  before  her  mind,  as  an  Eden  of 
innocence  and  delight. 


THE    MERCHANT.  155 

No  man  on  earth  more  needs  a  cheerful  home  than  the 
merchant.  Upon  the  wise  choice  he  makes  of  its  pre 
siding  genius,  its  comfort  must  depend  !  "  For  richer 
for  poorer,"  she  must  share  with  him  in  life's  conflict ; 
"  for  better  for  worse,"  she  must  bear  with  his  infirmi 
ties,  and  strengthen  his  virtues. 

"  I  came  to  the  desk  where  old  Commerce  grew  gray, 
And  asked  him  what  helped  him  this  many  a  day, 
In  his  old  smoky  room  with  his  ledger  to  stay  ? 
And  it  all  was  the  beauty, 
The  comfort  and  duty, 
That  cheered  him  at  home." 

Perhaps  it  was  the  want  of  this  beauty,  this  comfort 
and  duty,  that  rendered  Stephen  Girard  the  morose,  sto 
ical,  unsocial  being  which  he  became.  With  his  aston 
ishing  success  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  he  seems  to 
have  had  no  enjoyment  in  its  use.  While  he  was  an  ob 
scure  tradesman  in  Water-street,  New  York,  he  fell  in 
love  with  Polly  Lum,  the  daughter  of  a  caulker.  Polly 
was  at  the  time  out  at  service  in  the  city.  It  seems  that 
Girard  entered  into  love-making  with  the  same  decided 
earnestness  as  he  did  into  money-making ;  and  he  met 
in  both  with  obstacles — those  stimulants  to  effort.  He 
was  forbidden  by  the  girl's  father  to  pay  his  addresses 
to  Polly.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  circumstance,  his 
love  might  have  died  out ;  as  it  was,  he  persevered, 
and  finally  married  Polly  Lum. 


156  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Now  came  unforeseen  troubles  to  Stephen  Girard.  His 
wife  had  no  sympathy  with  him,  and  no  congeniality  of  dis 
position.  She  knew  not  duty  by  name,  so  far  as  her  hus 
band  was  concerned ;  he  became  cross,  snappish,  morose. 

After  having  led  a  miserable  life  with  this  woman  for 
ten  long  years,  the  husband  placed  her  as  an  insane 
patient  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  in  Philadelphia. 
There,  in  that  hospital,  Mrs.  Girard  died  at  last,  after 
having  passed  a  quarter  of  a  century  within  its  walls. 

When  her  husband  was  informed  of  her  death,  he 
maintained  the  stoical  indifference  which  had  now  become 
habitual.  He  followed  her  to  the  place  of  burial ;  bend 
ing  over  the  lifeless  remains,  as  they  were  lowered  into 
the  "  narrow  house,"  he  coldly  said,  u  It  is  very  well." 

We  know  not  what  might  have  been  the  character  of 
Stephen  Girard,  under  different  home  influences.  We 
ought  however,  perhaps,  as  an  act  of  justice  to  this  un 
congenial  wife,  to  mention,  that  her  husband  quarreled 
with  his  brother,  before  his  marriage,  and  so  bitter  was  the 
strife  that  an  umpire  was  called  in  to  adjust  their  affairs.* 

*  Very  different  this  from  the  course  pursued  by  the  Rothschilds, 
those  bankers  of  boundless  wealth.  When  their  father  died  he  called 
his  ten  children  to  his  bedside,  and  among  other  injunctions  which  he 
laid  upon  them,  was  that  of  "  inviolable  concord."  No  paternal  legacy 
has  ever  been  executed  more  conscientiously;  and  it  has  met  with 
the  reward  promised  to  them  who  obey  the  fifth  command  of  the  deca 
logue.  "  It  is  a  characteristic  of  the  Rothschilds,  that  all  the  members 
consult,  as  it  were,  the  shadow  of  their  deceased  father  in  every  impor 
tant  occurrence  of  their  life ;  remembering  literally  his  wise  and  judi 
cious  precepts.  They  do  not  pronounce  his  name  without  veneration." 


THE    MERCHANT.  157 

Yet,  poor  millionaire,  a  tender,  loving  wife  might  have 
won  thee  to  kindliness  and  social  feeling.  There  was  be 
neath  the  harsh,  molten  exterior  an  under-current  of 
humanity,  deeply  hidden,  like  those  streams  which  wind 
their  dark  way  under  ground,  occasionally  flash  into  sun 
shine,  and  then  disappear.* 

When  the  yellow  fever  prevailed  in  Philadelphia  to  a 
fearful  extent,  almost  depopulating  whole  streets,  this 
singular  man  remained  in  the  midst  of  the  pestilence,  and 
actually  went  into  the  hospital  as  an  attendant  upon  the 
patients  afflicted  with  this  loathsome  disease,  ministered 
to  the  dying,  and  performed  the  last  kind  offices  for  the 
dead. 

Is  it  not  highly  probable  that  a  being  who  thus  fear 
lessly  endangered  his  own  life  to  ameliorate  the  sufferings 
of  strangers,  might  have  been  softened  by  the  sweet  char 
ities  of  home,  falling  like  the  gentle  dew  around  his 
pathway  ? 

One  of  the  quaint  old  English  poets  thus  remarks  upon 
a  wife's  worth  : 

"  0,  what  a  treasure  is  a  virtuous  wife, 
Discreet  and  loving !     Not  one  gift  on  earth 
Makes  a  man's  life  so  nighly  bound  to  Heaven. 
She  gives  him  double  forces  to  endure 

*  "  The  love  of  the  beautiful  and  true,  like  the  dew-drop  in  the  heart 
of  the  crystal,  remains  forever  clear  and  liquid  in  the  inmost  shrine  of 
man's  being,  though  all  the  rest  be  turned  to  stone  by  sorrow  and  deg 
radation." — Lowell. 


158  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

And  to  enjoy,  by  being  one  with  him, 
Feeling  his  joys  and  griefs  with  equal  sense. 
Gold  is    right  precious,  but  its  price  affects 
With  pride  and  avarice. 

But  a  true  wife  both  sense  and  soul  delights, 
And  mixeth  not  her  good  with  any  ill ; 
Her  virtues,  ruling  hearts,  all  powers  command ; 
All  store,  without  her,  leaves  a  man  but  poor, 
And  with  her,  poverty  is  exceeding  store  ; 
No  time  is  tedious  with  her,  her  true  worth 
Makes  a  true  husband  think  his  arms  enfold, 
(With  her  alone,)  a  complete  world  of  gold." 


CHAPTER    TWENTIETH. 

LIBERALITY    AND     BENEVOLENCE. 

"  The  benediction  of  these  lowering  heavens 
Fall  on  their  heads  like  dew  !" — Shakspeare. 

"  We  are  helpers,  fellow-creatures, 
Of  the  right  against  the  wrong."— Elizabeth  Barrett. 

NOTHING  dignifies  the  pursuit  of  wealth  so  highly  as 
the  consideration,  that  by  its  acquisition  a  man  gains  the 
power  to  do  good. 

The  toil  and  labor — the  anxiety  and  care — who  would 
willingly  encounter  them  merely  to  hoard  up  dross  *? 
Dross,  indeed,  to  him  who  does  not  make  a  right  use  of 
it — pure  silver,  when  invested  for  the  public  welfare — 
refined  gold,  when  paid  into  the  treasury  of  suffering  hu 
manity. 

A  man  need  not  wait  till  he  moulders  in  his  coffin  with 
the  green  grass  over  his  grave,  before  his  means  are  ap 
plied  to  noble  purposes. 

So  did  not  Thomas  Eddy  of  New  York,  who  has  been 
styled  the  Howard  of  America.  By  death  deprived  of 


160  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

his  father  at  an  early  age,  Thomas  Eddy  must  have 
taken  up  arms,  (albeit  a  Friend,)  and  battled  it  manfully 
with  life  while  yet  very  young. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  became  acquainted  with  Wil 
liam  Savary,*  a  man  who  exercised  an  influence  for  good 
upon  his  whole  future  career. 

Thomas  Eddy  says  of  this  friend :  "I  have  often 
thought  there  never  was  so  nearly  perfect  a  character 
within  my  knowledge,  in  our  society,  and  none  that  more 
extensively  inculcated  and  effectually  diffused  true,  prac 
tical  Christian  principles/"5 

Thomas  Eddy  came  to  New  York  at  the  age  of  twen 
ty-one,  with  ninety-six  dollars  in  his  pocket — his  whole 
capital.  His  first  step  looked  like  wild  extravagance. 
He  took  board  at  the  rate  of  eight  dollars  a  week,  and 
had  one  dollar  a  week  to  pay  for  his  washing.  Ah, 
Thomas  !  at  this  rate  your  ninety-six  dollars  will  last  you 
but  ten  weeks  and  a  fraction  ! 

But  the  sagacious  young  man  knew  well  what  he  was 
about.  Observe  his  reasons  for  a  choice  of  lodgings. 
"  Samuel  El  win,  late  of  Newport,  John  I.  Glover,  and 
two  or  three  other  respectable  merchants,  boarded  at  the 
same  house ;  becoming  acquainted  with  them  was  highly 
useful  to  me,  as  it  was  the  first  opportunity  I  had  ever 

*  Probably  the  same  William  Savary  who  gave  the  benevolent  im 
pulse  to  the  distinguished  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry,  which  rendered  her  life 
so  useful  and  beautiful." 


THE     MERCHANT.  161 

had  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  commerce,  and  the 
course  of  mercantile  dealing.  I  knew  that  it  was  out  of 
my  power  to  support  myself  with  what  I  then  possessed, 
and  that  I  must  soon  come  to  want,  unless  1  could  suc 
ceed  in  business.  I  endeavored  by  every  means  in  my 
power  to  acquire  information.  Sometimes,  on  noticing  an 
article  intended  to  be  sold  at  auction,  I  would  procure  a 
sample,  and  call  on  some  dealer  in  the  article,  and  get 
him  to  offer  me  a  fixed  price  on  my  furnishing  it ;  in  this 
way,  by  first  ascertaining  where  I  could  dispose  of  the 
goods,  I  would  purchase,  provided  the  price  would  afford 
me  a  profit.  On  this  plan,  I  have  found  a  good  pur 
chaser  for  goods,  bought  and  delivered  them,  and  received 
the  money,  which  enabled  me  to  pay  the  auctioneer  for 
them,  without  my  advancing  one  shilling  !" 

Well  might  Thomas  Eddy  add,  "  I  was  obliged  to  live 
by  my  wits,  and  this  necessity  was  of  great  service  to  me 
afterwards." 

Was  the  noble  soul  of  Thomas  Eddy  narrowed  down 
to  a  pin's  point,  and  his  heart  frozen  to  an  icicle  by  this 
course  of  industry  and  economy — this  slow  process  of 
money-making,  by  taking  care  of  the  pennies  1 

Most  assuredly,  no;  he  had  become  deeply  imbued 
with  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  entered  with 
enthusiasm  into  every  plan  which  presented  itself,  or 
which  he  could  devise  for  the  benefit  of  the  human  race. 
He  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  the  amelioration  of 


162  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

human  misery,  whenever  it  came  within  his  reach.  The 
vicious  and  vile,  who  were  considered  beyond  the  pale  of 
sympathy,  attracted  first  his  attention,  and  his  success 
ful  labors  in  establishing  a  better  prison  discipline  than 
had  previously  existed  in  New  York.* 

The  New  York  Hospital,  and  the  Asylum  for  the  In 
sane  at  Bloomingdale,  owe  their  existence  principally  to 
the  exertions  of  Thomas  Eddy. 

In  connection  with  John  Murray,  a  brother  of  Lindley 
Murray  the  grammarian,  Thomas  Eddy  went  among  the 
scattered,  miserable  remnant  of  the  Indians  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  to  attempt  the  alleviation  of  their  condi 
tion.  He  formed  a  friendship  with  the  famous  Red 
Jacket,  and  our  native  artists  could  scarcely  find  a  sub 
ject  better  adapted  to  the  canvass,  than  that  of  the  excel 
lent  Quaker,  smoking  the  calumet  of  peace  with  this 
Indian  orator  by  his  side,  and  surrounded  by  the  fierce 
warriors  of  the  tribe.  Alas !  That  so  little  could  be 
effected  for  the  wasting  red  men  even  by  this  warm 
hearted  philanthropist.  Enthralled  by  intemperance  in 
the  worst  of  all  slavery,  the  poor  Indians  find  no  release 

*  In  1801,  Mr.  Eddy  published  his  celebrated  volume  on  the  State 
Prison  of  New  York,  one  of  the  most  admirable  papers  which  have 
been  written,  before  or  since,  on  the  topics  of  which  it  treats,  viz 
causes  of  crime,  punishments,  reformation,  prison  discipline,  <fec.  No 
one  had  studied  the  subject  more  thoroughly,  or  was  better  versed  in 
its  principles  ;  and  the  work  shows  him  to  have  been  well  acquainted 
with  the  works  of  Beccaria,  Montesquieu,  Howard,  <fec. 


THE    MERCHANT.  163 

from  their  thraldom  till  death  loosens  their  chains. 
Woe,  woe  to  Commerce,  when  she  is  the  means  of  carry 
ing  moral  and  physical  poison  to  the  untutored  savage ! 

When  works  of  public  utility  were  projected,  Thomas 
Eddy  was  among  the  foremost  to  promote  them.  Dr. 
Hosack,  in  his  life  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  mentions  the 
merchant  as  second  only  to  Clinton,  as  instrumental  "  in 
effecting  a  direct  internal  communication  between  Lake 
Erie  and  the  Atlantic,  by  means  of  the  Erie  Canal." 

He  labored  indefatigably  for  the  establishment  of 
free  schools  in  New  York. 

The  New  York  Bible  Society,  formed  only  two  years 
after  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  ranks 
Thomas  Eddy  among  its  first  and  most  efficient  patrons. 
Philanthropy,  public  spirit,  religion — noble  trio ! 

"  There  is  a  joy  in  worth, 
A  high,  mysterious,  soul-pervading  charm, 
Which,  never  daunted,  ever  bright  and  warm, 
Mocks  at  the  idle,  shadowy  ills  of  earth, 
Amid  the  gloom  is  bright,  and  placid  in  the  storm. 

It  asks,  it  needs  no  aid: 
It  makes  the  strong  and  lofty  soul  its  throne  ; 
There  in  its  self-created  heaven  alone — 
No  fear  to  shake,  no  mem'ry  to  upbraid — 
It  sits  a  lesser  god ;  life,  life  is  all  its  own. 

The  stoic  was  not  wrong 
There  is  no  evil  to  the  virtuous  brave, 
Or  in  the  battle-strife,  or  on  the  wave ; 
Worshipped  or  scorned,  alone  or  in  the  throng, 
He  is  himself  alone,  not  earth's  or  fortune's  slave ! 


164  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Power,  and  wealth,  and  fame, 
Are  but  as  reeds  upon  life's  troubled  tide  ; 
Give  me  but  these,  a  spirit  tempest-tried, 
A  brow  unshrinking,  and  a  soul  of  flame, 
The  joy  of  conscious  worth,  its  courage  and  its  pride." 

Judge  Conrad. 

Of  the  merchants  of  Boston,  Hon.  Edward  Everett 
says  :  "  They  have  indeed  been  princes  in  the  pure  and 
only  republican  sense  of  the  word,  in  bestowing  princely 
endowments  on  the  public  institutions  ;  and  to  him  who 
asks  for  the  monuments  of  their  liberality,  we  may  say 
as  of  the  architect  of  St.  Paul's,  '  Look  around  you.' 

"  In  every  part  of  the  old  world  except  England,  the 
public  establishments,  the  foundations  for  charity,  edu 
cation,  and  literary  improvement,  have  been  mostly  en 
dowed  by  the  sovereign ;  and  costly  edifices  are  gene 
rally  the  monuments  of  an  opulence  which  had  its  origin 
in  feudal  inequality.  If  displays  of  wealth  are  witnessed 
in  our  cities,  it  is  wealth  originally  obtained  by  frugality 
and  enterprise  ;  and  of  which  a  handsome  share  has  been 
appropriated  to  the  endowment  of  those  charitable  and 
philanthropic  institutions  which  are  the  distinguishing 
glory  of  modern  times."* 

*  Among  these  monuments  in  Boston  are  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital ;  the  Athenaeum ;  the  Perkins'  Institute  for  the  Blind ;  the 
Brimmer  School,  the  Abbot  School,  &c.,  &c.,  besides  churches  and 
other  edifices,  erected  by  noble  merchants,  who  happily  are  still  among 
the  living.  "Sic  iter  ad  astra" — but  long  may  it  be,  before  they  thus 
shine  from  afar. 


THE    MERCHANT.  165 

And  these  "  monuments  of  their  liberality"  have,  most 
of  them,  been  constructed  during  the  lifetime  of  the  men 
whom  they  commemorate.* 

Among  the  benefactors  to  literature  and  science  in  our 
country,  Nicholas  Brown  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
will  be  long  and  gratefully  remembered. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen,  Nicholas  Brown  entered  Rhode 
Island  College,  as  it  was  then  called,  and  was  graduated 
before  he  was  eighteen.  His  father,,  a  respectable  mer 
chant,  died  soon  after  Nicholas  became  of  age,  leaving 
him  a  considerable  fortune.  Instead  of  yielding  himself 
to  the  luxurious  enjoyment  of  this  fortune  and  the  chance 
of  exhausting  it,  he  soon  entered  largely  into  commer- 

f  The  Mercantile  Library  Association,  of  New  York,  is  one  of  the 
noblest  institutions  in  the  -world  for  the  benefit  of  young  men  engaged 
in  commercial  pursuits.  Besides  a  library  of  about  thirty  thou 
sand  volumes,  it  has  a  gallery  of  arts,  classes  in  the  languages,  in 
mathematics,  astronomy,  history,  &c. ;  and  a  museum  and  cabinet; 
of  the  latter,  they  say,  in  an  annual  report,  "  Our  members  are, 
many  of  them,  wanderers  upon  the  earth.  From  the  gay  whirl  of 
France,  and  the  classic  ruins  of  Italy,  '  to  the  continuous  woods  where 
rolls  the  mighty  Oregon,'  there  is  no  spot  that  will  not  be  marked  by 
their  footsteps.  From  the  icy  ocean  of  the  north  to  the  sultry  calm  of 
the  tropics,  there  is  no  sea  where  they  will  not  be  borne  by  the  broad 
canvas  of  our  merchantmen.  In  China,  in  Arabia,  in  the  Indies,  in 
South  America,  our  fellow-members  are  found,  and  where  can  the 
curiosities  of  other  countries  be  more  naturally  placed  by  them,  on 
their  return,  than  in  the  halls  of  their  own  Association.  We  have  be 
fore  us  the  example  of  the  noble  India  Museum  at  Salem,  Massachu 
setts  ;  and  those  of  some  of  our  other  Atlantic  cities."  Courses  of  lec 
tures,  from  year  to  year,  from  the  leading  minds  of  the  country,  are 
among  the  most  valuable  adjuncts  of  the  Association. 


166  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

cial  affairs,  thus  increasing  his  pecuniary  means,  and, 
as  will  be  seen,  for  the  sake  of  being  more  extensively 
useful. 

He  was  a  grateful  son  to  his  Alma  Mater,  which  now 
bears  the  name  of  Brown  University.  Entirely  at  his 
own  expense  he  erected  Hope  College  and  Manning  Hall, 
two  buildings  for  the  use  of  the  university.  Towards 
the  establishment  of  a  professorship  he  gave  five  thousand 
dollars  ;  ten  thousand  towards  the  erection  of  Rhode 
Island  Hall;  a  munificent  donation  to  the  library  and  to 
the  chemical  and  philosophical  departments — all  these  in 
his  lifetime  ;  together  with  the  bequest  in  his  will,  these 
donations  to  Brown  University  amounted  to  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

Besides  these  munificient  gifts,  Nicholas  Brown  left  in 
his  will  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  a  Retreat  for  the 
Insane,  and  gave  liberally  to  other  objects  in  his  life 
time,  without  ostentation,  as  becometh  the  Christian  and 
the  good  man. 

We  cannot  offer  a  better  example  of  mercantile  charac 
ter  than  one  given  of  Jonathan  Goodhue  of  New  York, 
by  his  pastor,*  on  the  occasion  of  his  death  : 

"  In  a  community  like  ours,  there  is  especial  danger 
that  the  Christian  standard  will  decline,  and  with  it  the 
confidence  of  the  public  in  the  reality  of  Christian  faith 

*  Rev,  Henry  W.  Bellows. 


THE  MERCHANT.  16*7 

and  virtue.  We  live  confessedly  in  the  midst  of  great 
temptations  and  seductions.  There  is  nothing,  perhaps, 
concerning  which  men  doubt  each  other  more  than  in  re 
gard  to  their  power  to  withstand  the  temptation  of  money ; 
that  every  man  has  his  price  is  a  received  maxim  of  ter 
rible  import,  whose  practical  disproof  concerns  the  in 
terests,  and  even  the  credibility  of  the  gospel  more  than 
tongue  can  tell. 

"  The  world  needs  to  see  men  springing  up  in  its  busi 
est  and  most  exposed  paths,  walking  amid  the  flames 
of  its  most  devouring  passions,  handling  its  most  seduc 
tive  and  betraying  objects,  in  contact  with  its  most  poi 
sonous  coils,  and  yet  maintaining  there,  principles  which 
are  above  the  sphere  in  which  they  move — aims  that 
stoop  not  to  the  level  on  which  they  stand  ;  a  purity  that 
is  not  to  be  contaminated  ;  a  character  above  suspicion 
or  reproach. 

"  What  we  particularly  need,  then,  is  the  example  of 
men  who  are  thrown  into  the  hottest  part  of  the  furnace 
of  temptation,  and  yet  come  out  unscathed. 

"  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  hear  men,  fortifying  their 
own  moral  resolution  by  assailing  the  ordinary  objects  of 
human  desire ;  denying  the  desirableness  of  fortune ; 
charging  the  necessary  principles  on  which  business  is 
conducted  with  intrinsic  immorality,  and  attributing  to 
wealth  itself  all  the  evils  which  come  from  a  passionate 
i  love  of  money.'  When  these  words  proceed  from  the 


168  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

mouths  of  the  unsuccessful,  or  from  those  withdrawn 
from  the  walks  of  trade,  they  indicate  a  very  suspicious 
kind  of  past  experience,  and  a  very  doubtful  sort  of  un- 
worldliness. 

"  Let  it  be  understood  that  the  merchant  occupies  a 
post  of  peril ;  that  he  handles  a  most  dangerous  sub 
stance  ;  that  he  is  of  all  men  most  exposed  to  the  evils 
of  worldliness  ;  that  his  principles  are  destined  to  fear 
ful  trial ;  that  he  is  to  live  in  constant  excitement,  with 
anxiety,  hope,  fear,  adventure,  risk,  as  his  stormy  ele 
ment  ;  that  mercantile  misfortune  has  its  imminent  moral 
perils,  and  commercial  success  equal  and  peculiar  dan 
gers.  Let  the  merchant  understand  that  he  places  him 
self,  for  the  sake  of  certain  valuable  and  not  unworthy 
considerations,  in  a  position  in  which  he  is  to  expect  little 
tranquility  of  mind  ;  small  control  of  his  own  time,  and 
little  direct  opportunity  for  cultivating  tastes  and  pursuits 
usually  regarded  as  protective  to  the  moral  nature. 

"  Let  him  understand  that  he  is,  more  than  any  other 
man,  to  deal  directly  with  what  is,  by  general  consent, 
the  most  seductive,  exciting,  and  treacherous  commodity 
in  the  world  ;  that  which  most  tempts  integrity,  moves 
the  baser  passions,  absorbs  the  faculties,  chills  the  hu 
mane  affections,  and  dulls  the  spiritual  senses ;  that 
which  was  the  object  of  our  Master's  most  emphatic 
warning.  But  let  him  at  the  same  time  recognize  the 
Christian  lawfulness  and  providential  importance  of  his 


THE    MERCHANT.  169 

calling,  and  appreciate  the  force  of  the  truth  that  the 
possible  moral  advantages  of  a  position  are  proportioned 
to  its  moral  perils,  so  that  no  man's  opportunities .  of 
forming  and  exemplyfying  the  Christian  character  in 
some  of  its  most  commanding  attributes,  are  so  great 
as  those  of  the  merchant.  In  no  man  is  superiority  to 
worldliness  so  much  honored,  no  man's  integrity  is  so 
widely  known  or  so  much  venerated  !  Honor,  upright 
ness,  brotherly  kindness,  purity  and  singleness  of  pur 
pose,  moderation  and  essential  superiority  to  worldly 
maxims  and  ambitions — these  qualities,  if  they  exist  in 
him  at  all,  exist  in-  him  in  spite  of  daily  trials  and  temp 
tations.  If  any  man's  principles  require  to  be  sound  to 
the  core,  it  is  his. 

"  No  man  occupies  a  more  commanding  moral  position, 
displays  a  more  useful  character,  or  wins  a  more  sin 
cere  and  compulsory  reverence,  than  the  Christian  mer 
chant. 

"  The  wide  commentary  which  the  character  of  Jona 
than  Goodhue  has  drawn  from  the  press,  makes  it  too 
late  to  pay  any  original  tribute  to  his  virtues,  as  it  re 
moves  the  apprehension  of  offending  the  delicacy  of  kin 
dred  and  friends  by  public  notice. 

"  Jonathan  Goodhue,  the  son  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Goodhue  of  Massachusetts,  came  to  this  city  (New  York) 
about  forty  years  ago,  and  entered  upon  mercantile  life. 
The  public  knew  him  only  as  a  merchant.  He  has  filled 


1*70  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

no  political  offices,  nor  made  himself  conspicuous  in  any 
philanthropic  causes. 

"  His  life  has  been  as  private  as  an  extensive  business 
would  allow  ;  his  career  as  ordinary  and  common-place 
as  any  man's  among  us  of  similar  age  and  commercial 
regulations.  He  is  but  one  among  a  thousand  in  our 
community  of  equal  wealth,  similar  connections  in  busi 
ness,  and  like  relations  with  the  public.  Indeed,  more 
than  almost  any  other  citizen  of  similar  intelligence,  ex 
pedience  and  standing,  might  he  be  styled  a  private 
person. 

"  Why  then  is  it,  that  with  an  almost  unequalled  de 
monstration  of  sorrow  and  bereavement,  this  community 
gathers  about  his  grave,  and  testifies  in  its  sincerest  and 
heartiest  forms,  its  reverence  and  love  7 

a  Whence  this  burst  of  admiration,  respect  and  affec 
tion,  coming  simultaneously  from  every  portion  of  the  pub 
lic  ;  uttered  through  the  resolutions  of  commercial  bodies ; 
speaking  from  the  lips  of  the  press,  and  above  all,  falling 
in  tones  of  tenderness  from  private  tongues  in  all  classes 
of  society  1  It  is  as  if  every  one  had  lost  a  friend,  a 
guide,  an  example  ;  one  whom  he  is  surprised  to  find  has 
been  equally  the  object  of  respect  and  affection  to  ten 
thousand  others. 

"  It  is  the  recognized  worth  of  private  character  which 
has  extorted  this  homage  !  Jonathan  Goodhue  had  suc 
ceeded,  during  a  long  and  active  life  of  business,  in  which 


THE    MERCHANT,  171 

he  became  known  to  almost  all  our  people,  through  the 
ordinary  relations  of  trade  and  commerce,  in  impressing 
them  with  a  deep  and  unquestioning  sense  of  his  personal 
integrity  and  essential  goodness. 

"  If  we  ask  ourselves  what  the  public  is  now  so  grateful 
ly  contemplating  in  the  memory  of  Jonathan  Goodhue, 
we  find  that  it  is  not  his  public  services,not  his  commercial 
importance,  not  even  his  particular  virtues  and  graces.  It 
is  the  man  himself ;  the  pure,  high-minded,  righteous 
man,  with  gentle  and  full  affections,  who  adorned  our 
nature,  who  dignified  the  mercantile  profession,  who  was 
superior  to  his  station,  his  riches,  his  exposures,  and 
made  the  common  virtues  more  respected  and  venerable 
than  shining  talents  or  public  honors  ;  who  vindicated  the 
dignity  of  common  life,  and  carried  a  high,  large  and 
noble  spirit  into  ordinary  affairs  ;  who  made  men  recog 
nize  something  inviolable  and  awful  even  in  the  private 
conscience,  and  thus  gave  sanctity  and  value  to  our  com 
mon  humanity.  This  was  the  power,  this  the  attraction, 
this  the  value  of  Jonathan  Goodhue's  life.  He  has 
shown  that  a  rich  man  can  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
He  stands  up  by  acclamation  as  the  model  of  a  Christian 
merchant. 

"  The  distinguishing  moral  traits  of  Mr.  Goodhue,  were 
purity  of  mind,  conscientiousness,  benevolence,  and  love 
of  freedom.  Perhaps  the  first  was  the  most  striking  in 
a  man  in  his  position.  Originally  endowed  with  a  sen- 


172  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

sitive  and  elevated  nature,  and  educated  among  the 
pure  and  good,  he  brought  to  this  community,  at  ma 
ture  age,  the  simplicity  and  transparency  of  a  child,  and 
retained  to  the  last  a  manifest  purity  of  heart  and  imagi 
nation.  I  think  no  man  ever  ventured  to  pollute  his  ear 
with  levity  or  coarse  allusion,  or  to  propose  to  him  any 
object  or  scheme  which  involved  mean  or  selfish  motives. 
He  shrank,  with  an  instinctive  disgust,  from  the  foul,  the 
low,  the  unworthy,  and  compelled  all  to  feel,  that  he  was 
a  4  a  vessel  made  to  honor,'  which  could  admit  no  noi 
some  or  base  mixtures  in  its  crystal  depths. 

"  His  purity  of  mind  was  still  further  evinced,  in  the 
difficulty  with  which  he  conceived  of  foul  motives  or 
wrong  intentions  in  others.  It  was  remarked  by  one  who 
enjoyed  his  daily  and  familiar  intercourse,  that  he  never 
heard  him  speak  in  derisive  scorn  of  any  man  but  in  one 
instance.  His  purity  of  mind  manifested  itself  in  the 
childlike  character  of  his  tastes,  manners,  and  pleas 
ures.  He  retained  through  life  the  playfulness  and 
simplicity  of  a  boy,  and  was  as  an  equal  among  his  chil 
dren.  His  mind  seemed  to  have  no  fuel  for  the  fiercer 
passions  of  manhood.  He  had  no  taste  for  notoriety, 
influence,  social  conspicuousness,  exciting  speculation, 
or  brilliant  success.  And  thus  he  maintained  the  equa 
nimity,  elasticity,  and  spontaneous  cheerfulness  of  his 
youth,  even  to  his  latest  days. 

"  Probably  conscientiousness  would  be  first  named  as 


THE  MERCHANT. 

Mr.  Goodhue's  characteristic  quality.  Duty,  I  doubt 
not,  was  the  word,  if  not  oftenest  upon  his  lips,  most 
deeply  stamped  upon  his  heart.  He  was  accustomed  to 
refer  his  conduct,  in  little  and  in  great  things,  to  the 
court  of  conscience. 

"  Nor  was  this  sense  of  duty  in  him  the  stern  and  nar 
row  principle  it  is  sometimes  seen  to  be,  even  in  the  good. 
He  had  the  nicest  sense  of  justice — a  most  tender  and 
solicitous  regard  for  others'  rights,  and  was  ever  on  the 
watch  to  learn  and  to  fulfil  his  obligations  in  the  least 
particular  to  every  human  creature.  His  conscientious 
ness  was  not  more  manifest  in  the  undeviating  rectitude 
of  his  mercantile  and  commercial  career,  than  in  social 
and  domestic  life.  He  was  careful  to  pay  honor  where 
honor  is  due ;  to  lose  no  opportunity  of  manifesting 
respect  for  worth  and  virtue ;  to  avoid  the  least  trifling 
with  the  feelings  or  the  reputation  of  others;  and  to 
give,  at  all  times,  the  least  possible  trouble  on  his  own 
account. 

"  If  the  testimony  of  the  commercial  world  is  to  be 
taken,  his  counting-room  was  to  him  a  sanctuary  in 
which  he  offered  the  daily  sacrifices  of  justice,  truth  and 
righteousness,  and  sent  up  the  incense  of  obedience  to 
that  great  precept,  '  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  that 
they  should  do  unto  you.'  It  was  the  pervading  con 
trol  and  influence  of  this  sense  of  duty,  which  enabled 
him  to  say  at  the  very  close  of  his  life,  '  I  am  not  con- 


174  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

scious  that  I  have  ever  brought  evil  on  a  single  human 
being.' 

"  And  this  suggests  another  characteristic  of  Mr.  Good- 
hue — his  benevolence,  which,  when  I  mention  it,  seems, 
as  each  of  his  other  traits  does,  the  most  striking  of  all. 
It  did  not  in  him  take  the  form  of  a  public  philanthropy, 
although  for  thirty  years  he  was  most  assiduous  and 
deeply  interested  in  the  duties  of  the  Savings'  Bank,  and 
a  governor  of  the  hospital  offices,  which  he  would  not 
relinquish  even  amid  the  infirmities  of  his  few  past  years, 
because  he  loved  the  intercourse  of  the  sick  and  the  poor. 
His  benevolence  was  rather  a  constant  and  unwearied 
desire  to  make  all  within  his  reach  happy.  He  loved  to 
make  the  human  heart  rejoice ;  loved  to  call  up  even 
momentary  feelings — feelings  of  satisfaction  in  the 
breasts  of  those  with  whom  he  had  only  a  passing  inter 
course. 

"  Who  so  scrupulous  as  he  to  discharge  the  little  cour 
tesies  of  life  with  fidelity?  Whose  eye  turned  so 
quickly  to  recognize  the  humblest  friend  1  Whose  smile 
and  hand  so  ready  to  acknowledge  the  greetings  of  a 
most  extensive  circle  of  acquaintances.  I  know  nothing 
of  his  more  substantial  services  to  the  suffering  and  the 
needy.  Yet  who  can  doubt  that  his  charities  were  as 
large  as  his  heart  and  his  means'?  But  <- m  we  overrate 
the  worth  of  that  beaming  goodness  which  overleaps  the 
barrier  of  station  and  wealth,  and  makes  for  its  possessor 


THE  MERCHANT. 

a  place  in  the  heart  of  the  humblest  and  obscure  ?  Love 
creates  love ;  and  the  unbounded  measure  of  affection 
which  this  community  poured  out  to  him,  shows  how 
freely  he  had  given  his  heart  to  his  fellow-men. 

The  love  of  freedom  was  the  most  conspicuous  mental 
trait  in  Mr.  Gobdhue.  Possessed  of  a  large  understand 
ing,  cultivated  by  careful  reading,  and  early  impressed 
with  the  principles  that  moved  our  republican  fathers, 
he  had  exercised  himself  upon  all  the  political,  religious, 
and  commercial  questions  of  his  time,  and  upon  most, 
had  worked  himself  out  into  the  largest  liberty  and  clear 
est  light. 

"  I  might  speak  of  the  simplicity  of  his  manners,  his 
modesty  and  humility,  his  great  dislike  of  ostentation  in 
modes  of  life,  dress,  equipage,  and  domestic  arrange 
ments.  These  were  the  qualities  which  made  him  loved 
as  well  as  respected.  No  man  envied  his  success,  or  was 
jealous  of  his  honors. 

"The  foundation  of  all  that  was  admirable  in  Mr. 
Goodhue's  character,  was  piety.  A  profound  reverence 
and  love  for  God  was  the  central  and  pervading  senti 
ment  of  his  heart.  This  was  the  light  and  strength  of 
his  conscience.  To  please  God,  to  do  his  Maker's  will 
pn  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven — this  was  the  rule  and 
the  impulse  and  the  secret  source  of  his  righteous  life." 

We  have  given  these  copious  extracts  that  this  beau 
tiful  character  might  not  be  robbed  of  its  harmonious 


176  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

proportions.  Where  could  a  better  example  be  found 
of  mercantile  success  ?  Success,  which  insures  all  of 
good  which  this  world  can  offer,  and  at  the  same  time 
looks  onward  and  upward,  to  a  brighter  and  a  better 
world. 


CHAPTER    TWENTY-FIRST. 

SUCCESS. 

"The  force  of  his  own  merit,  makes  his  way."— Shakspeare. 

"  Active  doer,  noble  liver, 

Strong  to  struggle,  sure  to  conquer." — Elizabeth,  Barrett. 

WHAT  then  is  success  to  the  merchant?      We  can 
readily  say  what  it  is  not. 

1.  It    is    not    merely   to    accumulate    $100,000  or 
$10,000,000  ;  a  fixed  sum,  as  the  ultimatum. 

2.  It  is  not  to  gain  the  control  of  the  market. 

3.  It  is  not  to  hold  the  rod  of  power  over  banking  and 
other  corporations,  and  a  host  of  clerks,  sub-clerks,  and 
other  subordinates. 

4.  It  is  not  to  lay  up  immense  wealth  to  leave  to 
thankless  heirs. 

5.  It  is  not  to  ride,  like  Whittington,  Lord  Mayor 
of  London,  in   a  magnificent   coach,  with   servants  in 
livery,  before  and  behind. 

6.  It  is  not  to  live  in  a  marble  or  freestone  mansion, 
furnished  according  to  the  expensive  taste  of  the  most 
fashionable  upholsterer. 

8* 


ITS  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

7.  It  is  not  to  hoard  gold  to  gloat  over  with  insane 
idolatry,  as  a  thing  too  good  to  use. 

8.  It  is  not  to  accumulate  and  to  hold  on  to  a  vast 
amount  of  property  with  selfish  enjoyment,  with  an  iron 
grasp,  which  death  alone  can  relax,  and  then  to  bequeath 
it  to  benevolent  and  religious  purposes. 

9.  It  is  not  to  become  a  slave  to  carking  care,  at  the 
expense  of  body  and  mind,  heart  and  soul — wearing  out 
the  body,  starving  the  mind,  palsying  the  heart,  and  ru 
ining  the  soul. 

1.  Mercantile  success  does,  to  be  sure,  involve  the 
fact  of  gaining  money — thousands  and  millions  of  dol 
lars. 

2.  It  is  a  glorious  instrument  of  power,  when  used  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  dependent  hundreds  of  beings. 

3.  Success  secures  the  approbation  of  the  world ;  for, 
as  the  wise  man  says,  "  men  will  praise  thee  when  thou 
doest  well  for  thyself." 

4.  Success  enables  the  merchant  to  possess  all  the 
means  and  appliances  for  his  own  comfort  and  that  of  his 
family. 

5.  It  gives  him  the  opportunity  to  gratify  his  taste', 
whether  it  be  for  books,  pictures,  statues,  or  houses — 
flowers,  music,  gardening,  farming — and  happy  it  is  for 
him,  if  he  possess  taste  to  be  gratified. 

6.  Success  secures  to  him  the  blessedness  of  giving — 
the  sweet  indulgence  of  alleviating  human  suffering. 


THE  MERCHANT.  1*79 

7.  It  furnishes  him  with  the  means  of  encouraging  and 
promoting  art,  science,  literature,  morality  and  religion. 

8.  It  secures  rest  from  turmoil  and  anxiety  at  the 
close  of  life,  and  leisure  to  look  forward  into  eternity. 


NOTES. 


A. 

AN  extensive  course  of  reading  for  the  merchant  was 
published  some  years  since  by  Wiley  &  Putnam,  New 
York,  entitled,  "  A  Course  of  Reading,  drawn  up  by 
the  Hon.  James  Kent,  late  Chancellor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Mercantile 
Library  Association." 

"  Let  .every  man  read  according  to  his  profession  or 
walk  in  life.  Suppose  a  man  shuts  himself  up  in  his 
study  twenty  years,  and  then  comes  forth  profoundly 
learned  in  Arabic,  he  gains  a  great  name ;  but  where  is 
the  good  of  it?" 

Pycroft's  "  Course  of  English  Reading,  with  additions 
by  J.  G.  Coggswell,"  will  be  found  an  admirable  guide 
for  young  men  who  wish  to  pursue  reading,  systemati 
cally,  and  with  practical  advantage. 


182  NOTES. 

"  The  English  authors  whom  I  would  name,"  said  the 
late  Thomas  S.  Grimke,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  "as  con 
stituting  a  nobler,  richer,  and  more  valuable  library  than 
the  whole  body  of  Greek  and  Roman  writers  together, 
are  the  following.  I  exclude  from  the  catalogue  literary 
writers  such  as  novelists  and  poets,  not  that  I  under 
value  them. 

RELIGIOUS     READING. 

"  The  Bible ;  Paley's  Evidences ;  Chalmers'  Eviden 
ces  ;  Butler's  Analogy ;  Cumberland  on  the  Laws  of 
Nature ;  Campbell  on  Miracles ;  Horsley's  Nine  Sermons 
on  do. ;  Horsley's  Discourse  on  Prophesies  among  the 
Heathen,  as  to  the  Messiah ;  Dwight's  Theology ;  Good's 
Book  of  Nature ;  Paley's  Natural  Theology,  etc. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

"  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans  ;  Beattie  on  Truth ; 
Smith's  Moral  Sentiments ;  Paley's  Moral  Philosphy ; 
Foster's  Essays  ;  Locke's  Essay  on  the  Human  Under 
standing;  Dugald  Stewart's  Works;  Edwards  on  the 
Will ;  Kirwan's  Logic ;  Watts  on  the  Improvement  of 
the  Mind ;  Enfield's  History  of  Philosophy ;  Reid's  Phi 
losophy  ;  Brown's  Philosophy ;  Alison  on  Taste ;  Blair's 
Lectures ;  Campbell's  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric ;  Home 
Tooke's  Diversions  of  Purley ;  Ferguson  on  Civil  Soci 
ety;  Stuart's  View  of  Society  in  Europe;  Hallam's 


NOTES.  183 

Middle  Ages ;  Robertson's  India ;  Playfair's  Decline 
and  Fall  of  Nations ;  Burke  and  Macintosh  on  the 
French  Revolution  ;  Madame  De  Stael  on  do. ;  Burke's 
Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace ;  Smith's  Wealth  of  Na 
tions;  Malthus  on  Population;  Brougham's  Colonial 
Policy ;  Alexander  Hamilton's  Reports  ;  Hallam's  Con 
stitutional  History  of  England;  Niles'  Principles  and 
Acts  of  the  Revolution;  The  Federalist;  Chancellor 
Kent's  Lectures  on  Constitutional  Law ;  Principal  De 
cisions  of. the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  United  States; 
Best  Speeches  of  American  Statesmen  and  Lawyers; 
Best  do.  of  English,  as  Chatham,  Pitt,  Fox,  Windham, 
Erskine,  Burke,  Sheridan,  Canning,  Brougham,  Mac 
intosh;  Brown's  Antiquities  of  the  Jews;  Milman's 
History  of  the  Jews ;  Russell's  Ancient  Europe  ;  Mit- 
ford's  Greece ;  Leland's  Philip  ;  Gillies'  History  of  the 
World,  from  Alexander  to  Augustus ;  Prideaux's  Connec 
tions  ;  Ferguson's  Roman  Republic ;  Gibbon's  Decline 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  Milner's  History  of  the 
Christian  Church  ;  Russell's  Modern  Europe ;  Roscoe's 
Lorenzo  de  Medici ;  Roscoe's  Leo  X. ;  Robertson's 
Charles  V. ;  Watson's  Philip  II.  and  III. ;  Irving's 
Columbus;  Robertson's  America;  Marshall's  Life  of 
Washington ;  Pitkin's  Civil  and  Political  History  of 
the  United  States;  Hume's  History  of  England,  with 
the  continuations;  Brodie's  History  of  England,  cor 
recting  Hume's  errors  ;  Clarendon's  History  of  the 


184  NOTES. 

. 

Rebellion ;  Cox's  Life  of  Maryborough ;  Gifford's  Life 
of  Pitt;  Priestley's  Lectures  on  History,  etc.,  etc. 
And  lastly,  the  various  and  general  knowledge  found  in 
Cyclopaedias,  and  the  admirable  articles  on  Politics,  Phi 
losophy  and  Criticism,  in  the  Edinburgh  and  Quarterly 
Reviews." 

To  this  catalogue  might  be  added,  valuable  books  of 
Travels  ;  Macaulay's  History  of  England ;  Prescott's 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  Conquest  of  Peru,  and  Conquest 
of  Mexico  ;  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  and 
"  a  noble  company"  of  historical  works  by  other  Amer 
ican  authors. 


B. 

CAUSES    OF   FAILURE    IN    BUSINESS. 

IT  is  said  by  political  economists,  that  a  very  large 
majority  of  all  men  who  enter  into  mercantile  business 
sooner  or  later  fail.  A  writer  in  the  Providence  Jour 
nal  makes  some  calculations  to  show  that  the  failure  of 
nine-tenths  is  directly  attributable  rather  to  a  profuse 
expenditure  of  their  gains  in  living  beyond  their  incomes, 
and  in  rashly  extended  operations,  undertaken  to  sustain 
such  a  career,  than  to  the  generally  unrequiting  nature 
of  business  pursuits.  This  is  undoubtedly  the  truth,, 
and  it  sufficiently  accounts,  without  reckoning  the  influ- 


NOTES.  185 

ence  of  other  social  and  moral  causes,  for  the  unequal 
distribution  of  property,  which  is  the  occasion  of  so 
much  jealousy  and  heart-burning  among  our  jealous  and 
over-sensitive  countrymen.  It  appears  by  a  recent  sta 
tistical  report,  that  one  half  of  the  whole  property  of 
Providence,  with  a  population  of  forty  thousand,  is  in 
the  hands  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  individuals  ! 
And  if  the  inquiry  could  be  pushed  a  little  further,  it 
would  probably  be  found  that  most  of  these  individuals 
have  been,  through  life,  men  of  frugal  and  industrious 
habits  and  moderate  desires. 

The  subject  is  one  of  general  interest,  and  we  com 
mend  the  following  extract  from  the  communication  in 
the  Journal,  to  young  men  of  business  : 

"  It  will  be  found  on  investigation,  that  the  large  es 
tates  of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  individuals, 
who  possess  one  half  of  the  whole  property  in  this  city, 
have  been  solely  acquired  by  persevering  diligence  and 
economy,  rather  than  by  bold  enterprises  ;  which,  when 
successful,  induces  reckless  habits,  like  success  in  draw 
ing  the  prizes  in  a  lottery. 

"  Every  one  becomes  surprised  in  examining  the  An 
nuity  Tables  in  familiar  use  in  the  offices  of  Life  Insu 
rance  Companies,  at  the  astonishing  aggregate  amount 
of  the  daily  expenditures  of  small  sums  when  compounded 
with  interest,  and  finally  summed  up  at  the  termination 
of  a  long  life,  as  exhibited  in  the  following  abstract. 


186 


NOTES. 


Table  showing  the  aggregate  value,  with  compound  interest. 
Amounting 


Of  an  expen 
diture. 

in  10 
years. 

in  20 
years. 

in  30 
years. 

in  40 
years. 

in  50 
years. 

Of2£cts.dayor  $10  a  yr. 

$130 

$360 

$700 

$1,540 

$2,900 

5ft 

20 

260 

720 

1,530 

3,080 

5,800 

8* 

30 

390 

1,050 

2,370 

4,620 

8,700 

11 

40 

520 

1,440 

3,160 

6,160 

11,600 

181 

50 

650 

1,860 

3,950 

7,700 

14,500 

27* 

100 

1,300 

3,600 

7,900 

15,400 

29,000 

55 

200 

2,600 

7,200 

15,800 

30,806 

58,000 

82£ 

300 

3,900 

10,800 

23,700 

46,200 

87,000 

1  10 

400 

5,200 

14,400 

31,600 

61,600 

116,000 

1  37 

500 

6,500 

18,000 

39,500 

77,000 

145,000 

"  By  reference  to  the  preceding  table,  it  appears  that 
if  a  laboring  man,  a  mechanic,  unnecessarily  expends 
only  2f  cents  per  day,  from  the  time  he  becomes  of  age 
to  the  time  he  attains  the  age  of  threescore  and  ten 
years,  the  aggregate,  with  interest,  amounts  to  $2,900 ; 
and  a  daily  expenditure  of  271  cents,  amounts  to  the  im 
portant  sum  of  $29,000.  A  six  cent  piece  saved  daily, 
would  provide  a  fund  of  nearly  $7,000,  sufficient  to  pur 
chase  a  fine  farm.  There  are  few  mechanics  who  can 
not  save  daily  by  abstaining  from  the  disgusting  use  of 
tobacco,  from  ardent  spirits,  from  visiting  theatres,  etc., 
twice  or  thrice  the  above  stated  amount  of  a  six  cent 
piece.  The  man  in  trade,  who  can  lay  by  about  one 
dollar  per  day,  will  find  himself  similarly  possessed  of 
one  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  and  numbered 
among  the  one  hundred  and  seventy -five  rich  men,  who 
own  one  half  of  the  property  of  the  city  of  Providence. 


NOTES.  187 

"  If  we  examine  the  particular  case  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  we  shall  find  that  this  man  now  so 
rich,  was  once  a  poor  young  man,  like  thousands  who 
now  surround  him  in  the  population  of  this  city,  and  his 
extraordinary  wealth,  greater  perhaps  than  that  of  any 
other  man  of  New  England,  is  the  result  of  long  and 
rigid  economy. 

"  Few  people  estimate  the  large  sums  to  which  the 
yearly  saving  in  personal  and  household  expenses  will 
accumulate.  Four  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  not  an 
uncommon  expenditure  for  merchants  in  this  and  other 
cities.  Half  a  cc  ntury  ago,  five  hundred  dollars  would 
have  been  regarded  as  a  sufficient  expenditure.  The 
difference  between  these  two  sums  for  fifty  years,  with 
the  accumulation  of  compound  interest,  reaches  the  enor 
mous  amount  of  over  one  million  of  dollars.  Extend  the 
time  eleven  years,  and  this  sum>  great  as  it  is,  becomes 
doubled. 

u  The  preceding  calculations  are  sufficient  to  encour 
age  hope  of  eventful  success  and  independence  in  the 
bosom  of  every  young  man,  who,  on  commencing  busi 
ness,  will  maintain  a  determined  resolution  to  combine 
industry  with  economy,  and  also  to  warn  him,  that  with 
out  economy,  the  opposite  result  of  bankruptcy  is  fright 
fully  certain. 

"  With  this  plain  statement  of  actual  results  before 
us,  it  cannot,  therefore,  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the 


188  NOTES. 

present  general  prevalence  of  an  unrestricted  indulgence 
in  showy  habits  of  dress  and  of  living,  should  cause  the 
failure  of  nine-tenths  of  the  men  who  embark  in  business, 
and  involve  also  the  prudent  anc}  careful,  on  whom  must 
fall  the  losses  caused  by  recklessness  and  extravagance 
in  every  form. 

"  The  true  value  of  money  consists  in  the  rational  use 
of  it.  Economy  becomes  a  vice  in  the  miser,  whilst 
extravagance  becomes,  on  the  other  extreme,  a  vice  in 
the  spendthrift.  The  golden  mean  lies  between  these 
extremes.  By  applying  available  gains  for  the  procure 
ment  of  rational  comforts  and  enjoyments,  and  for  ad 
vancement  in  moral  and  intellectual  culture,  we  fulfil 
the  highest  destinies  of  our  nature." 


FINIS. 


* 


